Rooted
by theRazorofOccam
Summary: In a universe where Sakura takes a wrong turn, she misses out on the apprenticeship with Tsunade, instead getting recruited by a very different mentor. Life turns out very differently from there on, as she takes the path of a very different kind of ninja. Updates on weekends, unless otherwise stated.
1. Into the Shadows 1:1

After dodging a dozen civilian paper pushers and a cadre of ANBU guards, Sakura finally arrived at her destination. Opening the office door, she steeled her nerves only to find an unoccupied desk. Frowning, she looked over to find Shizune at a desk of her own to the side.

"May I help you, Sakura-chan?" asked Tsunade's aide and longtime apprentice.

"Ah, sorry to be a bother," she apologized. Looking the office as if her Hokage may materialize out of thin air at any moment, she clarified, "I was hoping to ask a favor of Tsunade-sama."

"Tsunade-sama just," muttered Shizune, making a face Sakura couldn't interpret, "stepped out on some _business_. Can I take a message?"

"No, that's okay," Sakura said, bundle of nerves spilling into her system once again. Her plan had fallen apart, it seemed, and she wanted nothing more than to vanish from sight. "When will she be back in?"

Shizune mulled it over. "Not for a few hours. Maybe try again tomorrow?"

 _'Ah, built-in procrastination.'_ "Okay then. Thank you!"

The genin disappeared from the room before Shizune had the chance to reply. _If nothing else_ , Sakura though to herself, _Kakashi-sensei_ _has me well-versed in avoiding genuine human contact_.

Navigating her way through the maze that was the Administrative Division of the Academy, Sakura found that she was, in fact, _un_ successfully navigating the Administrative Division of the Academy. Realizing she was going the opposite direction from where she was supposed to, Sakura turned on her heel and came face-to-abdomen with a willowy shinobi with orange hair and a strangely familiar face. To his right stood what Sakura could only assume to be an Aburame, judging from the facemask that covered the upper half of his face, save for his hair.

Ignoring her stuttering apology, the willowy man posed a question. "You are genin Haruno Sakura of Team 7?"

"Um, yes. I'm really sorry. I was just trying to—"

"Come with me," ordered the shinobi, walking forward without waiting for her response.

She swallowed hard and did as she was told, hoping to avoid getting into more trouble than she was already. Following the pair of shinobi along the winding hallways, they all finally arrived at a door labeled 'Restricted Access ANBU Personnel Only.' The willowy shinobi pricked his thumb and pressed it to the door, apparently activating some seal, as it slid open. The entranceway was guarded by two ANBU guards in their daunting masks, and there appeared to a be a receptionist whose face looked as if it had been wiped of all emotion.

The receptionist glanced up to see who it was, nodded, and turned his attention back to the paperwork on his desk. At this point, Sakura was beginning to wonder if this was more than just a reprimanding – maybe Shizune had sent these two to take her to Lady Tsunade? If that was the case, neither of her guides confirmed it, remaining passive as ever while she followed them through a door to the right of the room, which led to a stairway. The odd trio took the stairs leading down and walked down what Sakura figured to be the longest corridor she had ever seen. Ignoring all doors to the sides, they kept making their way down until they arrived an entranceway.

The Aburame opened the door, allowing Sakura and the willowy man to enter, shutting the door behind as he followed. The shadowy room they walked into was eerie in a such a way that all of her danger senses as kunoichi screamed at her to draw a kunai or withdraw as quickly as possible. The closest thing that had felt like this was when she and the others had been in Zabuza's Hidden Mist Jutsu. She could only hope that the figure at the desk in the center of the room was her Hokage and not a menacing shinobi with pointy teeth.

To her surprise, it was instead a village elder behind the desk. She'd seen him around the village at special events often enough, and the Academy had been sure to make it known to students who the elders were. His bandaged eye and the sling for his right arm marked him as easily recognizable, that and the crisscross scar on his chin.

"Do you know who I am, Haruno Sakura? Where you are?" asked the man. His voice was neither quiet nor loud, but he spoke with authority, somehow making the words sound more like commands than questions. Somehow her eerie feeling from earlier hadn't quite dissipated.

"Yes, Shimura-sama. I saw a sign on a door earlier that said this area was for ANBU personnel," she admitted in a not-so-self assured voice.

The man's impassive stare seemed to pierce through her as he spoke again, "As you said, my name is Shimura Danzo. This is indeed the heart of ANBU in which you stand."

Sakura didn't know exactly what she was supposed to say in response, so she just nodded her head dumbly, waiting to be prompted or filled in at Shimura's leisure.

"Your remaining team member seems to have been taken as an apprentice. Given that the Uchiha boy fled away to Orochimaru, that leaves your Team 7 at an uneasy status. Can I assume that you were approaching the Hokage in order to find a new role to fill?"

"I was hoping to become her apprentice," confessed the pink-haired girl. It was a little surprising that Shimura-sama had known her intention, though he wouldn't be a village elder if the man weren't savvy. She hesitated and then added, "Naruto and Sasuke are both leagues ahead of me. I don't want to just watch from behind any longer."

The stare she received in return made Sakura wonder if she had said the wrong thing, and not for the first time she was questioning why she had been brought here at all.

"There are those of us who must lead from the front as figureheads, true," said the man, "But then there are those of us who do our parts in the dark, unseen by all, yet vital all the same. That does not mean that we must 'be behind,' however."

Sakura suddenly became very still, sure that her mind must be playing tricks on her. Surely the apparent leader of ANBU wasn't implying that _she_ could be ANBU material – the same kunoichi who had defaulted to asking Naruto to bring back Sasuke because she wasn't strong enough to do it herself?

She faltered, trying to voice her thoughts, but it seemed that the Shimura-sama had already seen through her.

"While Uzumaki and Uchiha certainly have the most apparent potential of your generation, there are areas in which they are severely deficient. It also occurs to me that many capable shinobi are often overlooked simply because they are positioned so near flashy counterparts."

"Shimura-sama, are you offering to place me into ANBU?" she asked quietly, uncertain as to why he had chosen her. Or that it was an offer she particularly wanted to accept.

"Bluntly put, no. While the potential is there, you are far beneath the set standards."

Relief and disappointment flooded her system all at once.

"However," said the man, "I believe relegating you to genin work any longer would be a waste of your talents. There are individuals in this part of the facility that who while not full ANBU members themselves, are affiliated with the group. The receptionist at the front, if you remember."

Sakura nodded, and he continued. "You will still be required to undergo some of the tests and training. Allowing someone in who couldn't be trusted to safeguard information would be foolish, and while not gaining full membership, we still require a certain degree of martial prowess, regardless of the position offered. Should you prove capable and progress adequately, a promotion will be in order. If you accept, Fu and Torune will take you in for some preliminary questions and paperwork. If not, this meeting will not be spoken of again."

The twelve year old stared for a long while at the elder in front of her. She knew the offer was not without its risks – ANBU work, even if she wasn't going to be admitted as a full member just yet, was dangerous. If she turned this down now and left, Lady Tsunade would still be there tomorrow, and she could request apprenticeship like she had planned. But the offer she had now was real, concrete – if she refused now, this chance wouldn't be waiting on her tomorrow – and apprenticeship under the Hokage wasn't a sure thing. She thought of Naruto and Sasuke, the power they had shown and how far and fast they had left her behind. Their backs were they only thing she could see – so lifting up her head the words leapt from her mouth before she had a chance to keep them to herself.

"I accept."

* * *

Sweat dripped from _everywhere_ as Sakura's forehead collided with the table at which she was seated. "Your thoughts are too erratic. And your fortitude is still severely lacking. Are you certain you possess the ability to be affiliated with ANBU?"

Fu's question, as always, was blunt and emotionless – merely a straightforward approach, not one of ill will. She was far too exhausted to give a proper response, regardless, so all he got was her panting instead.

"We begin again in fifteen minutes," he informed. "Try to be up to standard."

Sakura lacked the ability to groan aloud so she did so internally the best she could. It hadn't been quite four weeks since she accepted Shimura-sama's offer, and the trials she was still going through had proven to be more than she was prepared to take on. Sakura was _smart_ and though Kakashi-sensei hadn't done much in the way of training her in techniques, he _had_ driven the fundamentals of a shinobi into her –so much so that she was proud to say that she had gotten by on her wits and mastery of the basics where Naruto and Sasuke had gotten by on power and raw talent. What's more – her chakra control was second to none of the Rookie Nine. However, the sheer hard-hitting strenuousness of the ANBU tests strained and broke her again and again. And _she_ got to go home at the end of the day – she couldn't imagine what the full-on recruits must go through, being subjected to living in the facility every day.

Each day she was given a packet of information to memorize quickly and efficiently that she would have to reproduce to a designated individual at the end of the week. Meanwhile, each day until said time, she would endure interrogation techniques of all sorts or subtle use of genjutsu aimed at getting her to give up said information. This was in conjunction with the early morning, grueling physical training she underwent with some of the fulltime recruits – it had almost begun to be the favorite part of her days, which was saying something. She didn't think that would be the case if she ever went through the real thing and had to undergo early morning, mid-day, and evening physical training.

For now, though, she was being subjected to Yamanaka techniques. As it stood, Yamanakas couldn't actually _covertly_ read minds. They did have a technique that allowed telepathic communication, but it required some form of consent of the subjects in its preparation. However, they could crawl around in someone's head, break down mental barriers, and inhabit someone's body until they were on the cusp of insanity until said subject was incoherent enough to drunkenly let down their guard enough to establish a telepathic link. Though at that point, to be honest, most would probably break down and confess whatever they knew anyway.

Considering her own considerable mental prowess, the first time Sakura sat through a session with Fu, she expected to perform quite well. That was not the case. Despite being the top kunoichi in Sakura's class and future Yamanaka heir, Ino was not at the pinnacle of the Yamanaka just yet, much less of the level of one who was an ANBU member. In short, Fu's mental assault made Sakura and Ino's duel in the Chunin exams seem like the child's play it apparently had been. To be honest, she wasn't even sure why she was having to go through it – it wasn't like anyone outside of the Yamanaka knew how to conduct their techniques within Konoha, much less outside of it.

Regardless though, no matter how battered or exhausted she may be, Sakura wouldn't quit. She was a member of Team 7 at heart, and when they finally all reunited and got Sasuke back, she would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with all of them.

She didn't even notice that Fu had entered and taken the seat across from her. The clinical shinobi didn't bother to inform her his assault was about to begin, it just laid into her like a tidal wave. The mind ninjutsu he was using was comparable to a genjutsu, albeit with a virtually none of the subtlety or illusion.

The goal was to withstand the assault and give nothing, but if she were to slip, what she gave should be meaningless garbage with no relation to her 'intel.' Another interrogator had advised her to pick one thing to fixate on in order to distract herself from her situation and make it harder on the interrogator. A few weeks back she had resorted using kunoichi lessons she had received on flowers and plants which had been virtually useless during her time on assault-class team. She had since thought better of it, given that most of those classes used flowers native to Konoha and instead set to memorizing a particularly dry text chronicling the Clan War era.

The problem was not inherently that her focus material was dry and uninteresting – that described the vast majority of Academy coursework and she had been at the top of her class in theoretical work, thank you very much. The problem came when trying to focus on said material when a relentless Yamanaka was doing the psychic equivalent of brain surgery with a rusty hacksaw and a dull kunai with no painkillers whatsoever.

She was halfway through a description of one of the Nidaime's more clever battle maneuvers when her train of thought split into two – one leading her toward her secret intel. During this divergence, the head-splitting migraine that came on when Fu attacked came clearly into focus. Redoubling her focus, she plodded on, trying to reorder her thoughts

Sense of time dulled as seconds turned into minutes, and Sakura noticed that at some point she had begun reciting something aloud. On the off chance that what was being said was actually _not_ the intelligence report she continued to just think about Clan War history, lest her mind wander where it wasn't supposed to even further.

An eternity later, pain lanced through Sakura's skull, tearing an animalistic shriek from her lips. Shaking from raw nerves and dry heaving, she noticed she had collapsed onto the floor, albeit without the presence of another person slithering around in her mind. Glancing up, she found an orange haired Yamanaka peering down at her.

"Your fortitude is still poor, but incoherent babblings about Senju Tobirama aside, you've protected the report you were given. Recover quickly and depart."

* * *

 _'I'm not even going to be a full member; why am I learning how to use this?'_

The katana was surprisingly light as she swung it, but her opponent dodged it like she was swinging it in slow motion regardless. She jerked back, anticipating a counterstrike. A flash of steel from her opponent proved her instincts to be true as she parried with her own blade. The figure in front of her wasn't as large as some of the others in the program, but then it didn't take much to out-size Sakura. Keeping that in mind, she couldn't muscle her way out of this – which meant she had to end it quickly, relying on speed and quick wittedness.

The pink-haired girl shoved back and then rushed forward again, mirroring her opponent. Twitching her arm to feint a strike, she sidestepped and nearly caught an elbow to the face for her trouble. Backpedaling, her opponent advanced madly, and she was barely able to keep up with the rapid blows sent her way. Between the leverage and the strength of them, Sakura was caught off balance and the strike from a blunted katana sent her careening to the floor.

The featureless mask worn by all recruits stared down at her in the darkened room.

"Recruits. Return to the line," growled the baritone voice of Jaguar. Their instructor's mask and title was befitting – he was swift, stealthy and utterly lethal. And for the past month, he had been drilling the art of kenjutsu into her new group. The three months before this one had been all focused on that as well, though that group had advanced past that stage, and now she was up against a fresh group.

Regardless, Sakura was way out of her depth – not that she hadn't been before, but she desperately needed some one-on-one instruction. Unfortunately, she just didn't have the time. Ever since she was cleared to start official work, she had been assigned a handler and given work to be done in the facility.

It was mostly codes to be deciphered and reports to be analyzed and worked into presentable intelligence. Sakura was fairly certain that Konoha already had a department that handled this sort of thing, but maybe it had to be processed here to streamline things? Or maybe it was an issue of domain?

Either way, she did her work in a closet of an office, only allowed out at certain times – most of which were designated training sessions like this one. Apparently Shimura-sama had been serious when he mentioned her possible moving up in the ranks. The down side of that meant that Sakura had no free time – she had even been moved into an ANBU dormitory. It was exhausting, at least on normal missions with –

"Number Fifty-Three, is there a problem?" came a low voice.

Sakura snapped to, only to find Jaguar only a few feet away. They were the only two in the room; apparently the session was over.

"My apologies," she managed to squeak out. "I'll be going now."

Jaguar cocked his head. "I _said_ you were to follow me to your next assignment, Fifty-Three."

"Oh," she said, nervously biting her lip behind the mask. "I see."

Without another word, Jaguar turned on his heel, and Sakura followed him down the winding corridors of the facility. It was a separate branch that was connected to the Academy section via underground corridors – Sakura wondered how far it all went or if other organizations in Konoha had anything like it.

Eventually the pair arrived in what appeared to be an ANBU changing room, just in time to find woman about to remove her cat mask. From what Sakura could tell, she appeared to be a full-fledged member. She sported the signature tattoo on her left arm; though instead of keeping her katana on her back, she had it strapped to her left leg along with a large compliment kunai on the opposite leg. Other than that, the only thing that distinguished her was her thick white hair, which she was only partially successful at holding back with a rope.

Jaguar cocked his head at the woman, to which she clucked her tongue. "You're late. I told you that I had an appointment with the Hokage."

"Personal business. Irrelevant," remarked Jaguar in an unimpressed manner. Hardening his voice further he added, "I trust you've read the file."

"Of course," scoffed the woman. "Command has been saying I'd have a student to train for months now. I've put off my _personal business_ in the meantime. And now when I've finally decided to go through with it, you saddle me with a mediocre genin that didn't cut it for a full induction?

Sakura struggled to stop from either averting her eyes in shame or bristling in defiance. Next to her, however, Jaguar stepped forward, speaking once more. "These orders come straight from Shimura-sama. Is this a display of insubordination?"

"No," came the response. "Of course not."

Jaguar nodded, turning to Sakura. "From now on, instead of meeting with the training group, you will meet with Ocelot, who will be your personal trainer."

The pinkette braced herself, cutting off the anxiety spike before it could take hold of her – something she had gotten adept at during her 'meetings' with Fu. Letting herself go icy, she gave a curt not. "Yes, Jaguar-sensei."

Jaguar subsequently withdrew, presumably to give the pair to acquaint themselves with one another. The atmosphere thereafter was fairly tense, though Sakura had long since been broken in to difficult mentors. After a few moments, however, she relented. "Orders?"

"Nothing for today," replied Ocelot. "Meet me in Training Room 12 tomorrow. You're dismissed."

Sakura opened her mouth to ask where the training room was but thought better of it. ANBU seemed to loathe such small questions even more than the average shinobi. No wonder Kakashi-sensei had been such a pain in the ass. Turning on her heel, she promptly exited, hoping to avoid annoying her new teacher any more than she already had.


	2. Into the Shadows 1:2

It turned out that for the first time in quite a while, she had some free time, having already finished up her report for the week and turned it in to her superior. The latest report had been an assessment of one of a series of isolated incidents concerning the Village Hidden in the Mist. Evidently a kekkei genkai holder by the name of Terumī Mei was engaging in guerilla warfare with the regime and gaining a large number of followers. It had been Sakura's job to decode a number of piecemeal reports and put together a cohesive assessment about the situation, as well as forecast about everything was likely to develop within the coming year. By Sakura's estimate, the success of the Terumī's rebellion was contingent not on strength or numbers but rather the condition of the sea bordering the country and the behavior of the tide – both her supply lines and the current regime's defense depended on nature favoring them.

She had done considerably better at putting together this report than her previous one. _That_ had been about assessing the trade routes established by Otogakure – where they were, who the partners were, and what contracts were likely to be forged or the details of already existing ones were. Though that particular report hadn't been stellar, she had learned significant analytical skills throughout its compilation. And to be fair, the assignment concerning Terumī had been much more geared to her area of expertise than trade contracts and village economics.

Regardless, this was finished and she was glad about the fact. Her handler had told her that she had a few days reprieve from reports and to spend her time "sharpening her skills." Sakura wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but she resolved to go and get a book on cryptography. The reports she used rarely had to be decoded by her personally, but it often helped to look at the code with her own eye, to maybe see if there was something the original decoder missed.

So it was on her way to the library where she heard a very familiar voice.

"Hey! Forehead!"

She turned in time for a pebble to sail into her forehead. Playfully glaring, she acknowledged the blonde. "Pig."

"Where've you been for the past forever?" asked the Yamanaka heiress pulling Sakura in for a hug. "Everyone's been wondering where you were, ya know."

"I've," said Sakura slowly, completely unprepared for this, "been busy with missions and training."

Ino quirked a skeptical eyebrow. "For the past six months?"

Sakura remained tight lipped, and her companion took the hint. "Well, whatever, we should do some catching up while you're free."

Despite her protests, Ino dragged her away to the Dango Shop, where she'd bemoaned the amount of training she'd been enduring since she'd been accepted as the Hokage's apprentice. There was a sharp pang of regret Sakura experienced when Ino had first told her of the apprenticeship, and she'd wondered about whether or not she'd made a mistake accepting Shimura-sama's offer. It was of some small petty consolation that apparently Ino was also having to weather "being groomed" to eventually take over the Yamanaka clan when she came of age. Sakura wondered to herself if that entailed having to endure a mental assault from a fellow clan member or maybe Ino's own father. Then, another thought occurred to her. _'Does that mean Ino is supposed to be even_ more vicious _than Fu-san?"_

Sakura suppressed a shudder. It wouldn't do to let Ino know that the thought of what she may be like one day was a little terrifying.

"So tell me what's had a genin so busy? Even Shikamaru's been around more than you, and he actually got the promotion. Though, at least half of his assignments have included guarding the village gate."

Sakura sighed. Ino always had been a gossip hound. "I can't really talk about it."

Ino pursed her lips, twirling a dango stick in her fingers. "I bet I could weasel something out of your parents since you're so tight-lipped about it."

"I doubt it. I haven't been home in three months."

"Really, Sakura? So the first thing you do when you get home is go to the library?"

"It's not really free time, per se," she said guiltily. "More like independent training time."

Evidently Pig didn't buy that line because in ten minutes time she found herself sitting in her home, with Ino and her parents. Fortunately for Sakura, despite some scolding for not coming to see them first, Ino's ulterior motives went largely unrealized, as Sakura's parents were much more respectful concerning mission confidentiality. Eventually she was spared of her plight when Ino had to leave for a meeting with her team, which was apparently the first one they'd have together in a while.

Before she'd gone, her parents had given her a bundle of letters, mostly all from Naruto. He'd been writing her since she'd missed out on going on that one mission with him and Jiraiya. She'd also taken the time to pick up a few more changes of clothes – regulation clothing was well and good while on the job, but she'd missed having clothes to lounge about it during down time, sparse though it was.

She dropped by the library and picked up what she had in mind. Unfortunately, she almost got all the way to the ANBU compound before she realized that she'd left her wallet back in the Dango Shop. Sighing in frustration, she turned on her heels and returned.

To her relief, she found that the owner had kept it behind the counters, anticipating her return. However, she'd also managed to return at the same time Mitarashi Anko. Sakura didn't have any personal grudge with the tokubetsu jōnin, but she was rather –

Well, frankly put, she was loud and obnoxious, with a serious disregard for personal space. In short, she was very much like Naruto, but without the familiarity he brought with him. That, and if Sakura remembered correctly, the woman also had a rather strange sadistic streak.

She'd tried to slip out without drawing attention, but the older woman appeared to have a sixth sense for weakness, and she grabbed Sakura by the shoulders, hauling her in for a closer look. The smell of sake mingled with sweet dango invaded her nostrils as she tried hard to put on a polite face.

"Hey," slurred the woman. "Aren't you that girl from the 'xams. On the team with the focksh kid and the Uchiha kid? Hatake's bratsh?"

Sakura tried as hard as she could to breathe through her mouth without making it overly obvious, though she imagined it wouldn't matter much to the drunken woman in front of her. "That's right Mitarashi-san."

"Mmf, so you'll be in the necksht exam, right?" she asked. "And ish Anko. None of that Mitarshi-san bullshit."

"I don't think so," said the pinkette, trying to remember when they were scheduled. "I'll probably be busy with assignments."

Anko's grin was loose and mischievous. "Running around in the shadows, behind a porcelain mask, eh?"

Sakura froze. _'Shit, shit, shit. No one's supposed to no about me; how did she find out. I am so done for.'_

The older woman let go of Sakura, cackling to herself while she propped up on the building behind her. When she'd had her fill of fun at Sakura's expense, she looked back at the confused girl. "S'okay, kid. Your bosses told me. Meet me here tomorrow at sunrise."

Sakura watched as the odd woman walked away, feeling more than just a little uncomfortable. _'Relax. Mitarashi-san is a loyal shinobi. If she said it was legitimate, it is.'_

Her self comfort did little good to abate her fear, after having been called out in public by a drunk shinobi. Fortunately, there hadn't been anyone nearby to hear their conversation. She wondered if Mitarashi would've acted any differently had there been. She seemed like a woman who played loose with regulations.

Uncertain about how to proceed, she decided to just return to the compound. Once she got back to the room, she found note left on her bed that did indeed confirm that she was supposed to meet Mitarashi Anko, though the note specified a different location. Sighing a breath of relief, she idly wondered about what she was meeting with the odd woman about – Sakura didn't think she was ANBU. She supposed she'd find out soon enough.

* * *

After grabbing breakfast dango, Sakura had followed her companion to an underground bunker a little ways outside of the city walls. Mitarashi hadn't said much, and Sakura was started to get frustrated. After finally arriving in a room after going through winding hallways, she decided to speak up.

"So, Mita- _Anko_ , if you don't mind, could you tell me the details of this assignment?"

If Anko heard her question, she didn't give any sign. There was a strange look on the woman's face. Wistful, almost.

After a minute or two, she spoke up. "This isn't just a normal Konoha bunker, ya know. It was specially designed years ago. It was actually a lab or research site, but since then, it's been wiped down."

Sakura didn't know what to say, so she kept her mouth shut.

"This is actually where I first started training, when I graduated the Academy," Anko finally continued. "It isn't my job to train you, not exactly. But I figured it would be a good place to start. Maybe start you off the same way my sensei did."

Sakura shrugged. She wasn't sure what a rookie genin exercise could do to help her at this point, but there was no harm in it. She was about to give verbal confirmation when Anko twisted around, sending a kunai sailing toward Sakura's face.

Sakura sidestepped the kunai and pushed herself backward, creating space between herself and the older kunoichi while drawing her own kunai in defense. Batting another thrown kunai aside with her own, she watched as Anko withdrew the room, but when she advanced to follow, she saw the door roll closed and heard a latch lock in place.

"Sorry about this kid, but if you can't handle this next point, I'd be wasting both my time and yours. You have about an hour, maybe two to fight off the effects. Any longer than that, and the poison will have already left you a brain-dead meat-sack. Good luck, have fun!"

 _'Poison?'_ Sakura wondered to herself. Her question was answered later by some hissing noises beneath her. _'Well, that would be why there were holes in the floor.'_

As useless as she knew it would be, Sakura tried the door. It was securely locked, and the metal door wasn't likely to give under pressure. Maybe if she'd have some explosive tags, but no, she was stuck here.

 _'Brilliant, Sakura, just brilliant. Let yourself be trapped so easily. Some kunoichi you are – ANBU aspirations, indeed.'_ She shook her head, focusing. _'Wallow later. You have to get out of this. Earth jutsu, maybe?'_

She ran through a list of earth jutsu she knew. It wasn't a long list, admittedly; her genin team hadn't gone over any nature affinities. Since then, the ANBU had administered her the affinity tests, presumably to keep them on file.

As it turned out, she had two – water and earth. She briefly wondered if she should try water instead, maybe to contain the gas, but by the time she had the thought, the hissing had stopped. So, reaching into her very limited repertoire of doton jutsu, she selected one that drew in rocky rubble into a shell around the user. Normally, it was used for defensive purposes, but she wouldn't have any complaints if it were to punch escape routes into the room she was trapped in. She was going to have words with Mitarashi when this was all over with. Superior be damned, it was all quite unprofessional.

She snorted. This coming from someone who's team jōnin had been the Copy Ninja.

 _'Focus, Haruno_ ,' she thought to herself, running through the hand seals for her Earth Shield. She had gotten all the way through 'Ox' when she noticed something was wrong with her chakra, and abruptly halted her motions – it was a dangerous thing to attempt jutsus when one's chakra was off.

She did a basic self-diagnostic of her system, which amounted to pulsing chakra through her body. Or at least, that was supposed to be what she did. Instead, her chakra shakily _flared_ and _crackled_ rather than cleanly pulsing through her system as it was supposed to.

She paused. _'That was…odd._ '

Re-focusing, she tried the pulse once more. This time, the flare up didn't stop. Pain coursed through her body, and her right arm jerked of its own accord, corresponding with her chakra crackling in the same limb. _'The poison…attacking my chakra?'_

Sakura grit her teeth, still reeling from the pain that had racked through her body. She had no idea how to deal with poison that attacked chakra. In the Academy, they had gone over countless poisons and how they attacked the body, but never anything that attacked chakra like this. Sure, there were some poisons that slowed chakra regeneration, but those were mild, and didn't do anything that caused it to behave any differently beyond regeneration rate.

She paused for a minute to think about her predicament – Anko said that this was something that she had been put through as her test as a genin, which meant it shouldn't be too hard to shake off, right? Then again, Anko never said that she had passed that test. _'Damn all this. Come on, Sakura pull yourself together. You've gotten out of tougher spots than this.'_

The pinkette wondered if she could she could somehow manage to isolate the poison in her body since it was evidently tainting her chakra system in some way. She yet again wondered to herself if it would've been better to pursue a place as the Hokage's apprentice; she probably would be better equipped to handle such a problem. Then again, she probably wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

She decided immediately not to pursue a brute force approach. Blasting chakra through her body and winding up comatose sounded like a very Naruto thing to do, so she dismissed that course of action. Instead, she resolved to probe her system until she found the source of the problem.

Sakura decided to divide her body up in sections to see it the source of the issue was localized. The body's chakra system was connected together by tenketsu, chakra points. These points couldn't be pinpointed on any one individual by normal means, but the general placement of them could be narrowed down throughout the body. While expelling chakra from individual tenketsu was a feat generally limited to the Hyuga, all ninja could move chakra while it was still in the chakra pathways, and Sakura prided herself on being quite adept at controlling chakra flow. So, the goal now was to limit the flow to certain areas of the body, then isolate the issue. To make things simple, Sakura decided to break it down to the separate limbs, her abdomen, torso, and head.

Sakura started with her right arm, since that was where her chakra had crackled during her second pulse. To focus herself, she did a hand seal, one that help direct a basic flow of chakra through the right arm. This time, there was no flare up, though her chakra was much more faint than usual.

Cycling through the rest of her limbs, Sakura had similar results. She smirked in satisfaction to herself. Kunoichi though she was, using her head was Sakura's strong point. _'I'll figure this out yet.'_

Testing her abdomen next, the problem intensified – faint chakra that flashed and stuttered rather than flowing properly. Her stomach tensed in protest. Still though, there was no violent flaring or crackling like there had been earlier.

Her torso test went much better. Well. Perhaps not the best word, but it helped aid Sakura's theory that there was an effected area rather than a blanketed catch-all that targeted the whole of her chakra system. The weakness of the chakra remained and when she pulsed chakra in the area, it flared, making her whole chest seized up, leaving her short of breath. Last, there was the chakra network in her head – this time, the whole suite of problems accompanied the pulse. A flare of chakra that left her blinded for a few seconds, accompanied by crackling after effects that made her temples throb and left her head aching.

Now that she had it narrowed down to the problem areas, Sakura wondered about how to proceed. If the problem had originated in her head and had spread out of it, then it may be problematic to continue to conduct tests, as conducting a flow through tenketsu could cause leakage into the rest of the system. Though, bottling up the taint may also be problematic, build up in one area part of her system was just as likely to harm her as a spread throughout its entirety. Even then, she could be helpless in the spread of it through herself at all. That or it may not even be prone to spreading.

She groaned at the possibilities. Instead of worrying over the details, she just decided to narrow down the area even more than she already had. The problem with that approach was that there were only so many hand seals, each one that dictated flow in a certain area or distinct manner. Some jutsus needed a direct flow, others pulses or flashes, other times, a spiraling, spinning motion was needed – and most of them needed chakra to be molded that came from more than one area of the body.

Thus, triggering her chakra to behave in a certain manner that would allow her to conduct her test could be a little difficult, given that control over individual tenketsu wasn't something she could achieve. The goal in this case was to both narrow down the affected area and see if it mattered _how_ her chakra flowed. However, there were a limited number of hand seals, which meant that it might be necessary to do some fine-tuned probing and chakra control without the structured seals she was used to using.

Annoyingly, this was feat that say, a medic nin would be able to do simply enough. Well, maybe not _simply_ , but definitely more adeptly than most shinobi. Though, she supposed puppet-using shinobi had to have this kind of deft control, though in distinctly different ways for very different reasons.

Shaking her head to get back on track, Sakura conducted her tests. She lost track of time as she struggled to make her chakra flow in various ways. By the time she had figured out what she wanted to know, she was in poor shape – feverish, weak, and drenched in sweat, Sakura had narrowed the areas down to her head, neck, and down just past her clavicle right at the top section of her sternum. Furthermore, only certain motions or rigorous drawing on her chakra supply triggered backlash.

Spiraling motions tended to draw the least amount of backlash, possibly because they didn't necessarily require direct control to affect the entire target area. Usually this resulted in some crackling that spread out, but it was very minor. After repeating that exercise a number of times, Sakura decided to once more direct a slow, snaking flow through the region. She was dangerously close to trying that violent surge that she though of earlier. Curiously, though, she saw that this time, , only the crackling and the flashing that had occurred in her torso happened, rather than the full-on flaring. Wondering if she had stumbled onto a technique to soothe the effects, Sakura tried the spiraling motions again, as if trying to massage out a knotted muscle after a day of hard labor.

Switching methods again, the pinkette saw that she had indeed discovered a remedy to the chakra poison, though she wasn't yet sure exactly _why_ her approach worked. She supposed that it didn't really matter at the moment, and set about kneading her chakra network in the affected area.

Minutes later, there was no flaring, flashing, or crackling. Although, her chakra was still weaker than normal, its normal strength was returning. Standing up, she approached the door, only to find that it was already open.

Mitarashi Anko, standing in front of Sakura, spoke through a mouthful of dango. "Took you longer than I thought."


	3. Into the Shadows 1:3

"Took you longer than I thought," said Mitarashi Anko through mouthful of dango. The woman was propped up in the doorway to the room which she had locked Sakura in only an hour and half prior, and if Sakura had the strength to do it, the pinkette would've planted her fist in the older kunoichi's face.

As such, having been dosed with chakra poison by the other woman and only recently having been cured of said affliction, Sakura was in no position to display that kind of behavior. "And what exactly, Mitarashi-san, led you to believe that I would have been equipped to handle that any more efficiently than I did."

Anko shrugged, nonchalant and evidently oblivious to Sakura's annoyance. "You've been a genin longer than my team was."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow in annoyance. "And how, exactly, did your team handle that situation?"

"Mm? Naoki opened up his tenketsu and dispelled it. Though, Ryou convulsed and passed out the first time."

"And you, Mitarashi-san?"

"Me? I just blasted chakra through my system until it broke up."

Sakura glared, pinching the bridge of her nose. _'Because of course she did.'_

"And what exactly was the purpose of that?"

Anko declined to answer right away, instead shoving off of the doorway and walking into an adjacent room, where there was a table and chairs set up in the very middle. She took a seat, gesturing to Sakura to do the same, where there was a canteen and ration bar waiting for her, as well as what appeared to be a chakra soldier pill.

Doing as instructed, Sakura took a seat, washing the chakra pill down with the water from the canteen. She tore into the ration bar and listened as the other kunoichi started to explain.

"ANBU says that you've been doing analysis for them. Apparently, they want you to have a some more _practical_ knowledge of your subject matter."

"And what exactly is that?"

"Otogakure. ANBU seems to think that I have some expertise in their 'kage's methods,'" drawled the other kunoichi, pulling up a satchel onto the table from under her chair.

Sakura gave a questioning look as Anko up-ended the satchel, scrolls tumbling out in front of her. "Why is that, Mitarashi-san?"

"I've already told you – cut that 'Mitarashi-san' shit out. And because the Snake Bastard was my jōnin sensei on my genin team," she said absently, opening and reading over one of the scrolls.

Sakura froze, stuttering out, "O-Orochimaruo was your jōnin sensei? One of the sannin?"

Anko gave a look. "The traitorous one. Yeah."

Sakura was about to inquire further when a scroll smacked her in the face.

"Read that," commanded the kunoichi, chair scraping against the floor as she rose from her place at the table. "It starts with the basics. You should be able to get through the rest well enough if you start with that one. Keep it to yourself, of course. Once you leave here, those go no where but your room at the ANBU compound until you return them to me."

Sakura looked out at the scrolls on the table. There were exactly eleven. Hopefully they weren't too extensive. "When do I need to have them read by?"

Anko had already turned heel to leave the room at that point. She didn't look back as she replied. "By tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" she cried. "Mi—Anko, hey, wait!"

The other kunoichi failed to turn around and give her a more reasonable deadline, so Sakura despaired for five minutes, head on the table, staring forlornly at the half-eaten ration bar on the table. _'All this in one night. Doesn't this crazy woman know I have shit to do? Wasn't drugging me and locking me in a room enough for one day? And then I have to go deal with Ocelot, who doesn't even want to be training me.'_

After sufficient wallowing, she snapped up, ready to deal with the task in front her.

 _'Okay. First is first. I can't do this here. I need a controlled study space. Bright lighting, quiet room, even temperature, a_ clean _desk, a chair that's neither comfortable nor_ un _comfortable,'_ she thought, eyes shifting to the ration bar, _'and not terrible food.'_

It didn't take long for Sakura to get back to her room in the compound, though she did take the time to pick up a plethora of snacks to munch on while she studied. It was a shame that she wouldn't be able to keep any notes she took on the subject, but she had decided to take down notes while studying to be burned later. Reorganizing information into her own thoughts and words had always helped her as an Academy student. And if she were to have all this read and processed by tomorrow then hopefully it would help her again.

When the pinkette opened the first scroll, she was surprised by what she found – it was all writing almost exclusively concerning chakra. It was fairly comprehensive in terms of breadth, though its depth was fairly extensive too, a number of the writings on theory being accompanied by experiments with hard data. It actually occurred to her that this was a personal scroll of Orochimaru himself. It would been something to marvel at had it not read like the personal writings of a genius of his level – that is, to say, vastly complex, if very well articulated.

She was in the middle of an explanation about how tenketsu reacted to chakra when geared to the different elements and how they reacted to normal chakra when she realized that she only had five minutes to get to her meeting with Ocelot.

 _'Damn, damn, double damn,'_ she cussed to herself. Throwing her casual clothes off, she put on the sleeveless black ANBU shirt and gloves and slipped on her sandals. Grabbing her weapons and securing them, she then donned her blank recruit mask and rushed out of her room.

It wasn't until she had already been jogging for three minutes that she realized that she'd forgotten to locate Training Room Twelve. Sighing a big sigh, she snagged a random person and after apologizing profusely, asked for directions.

All-in-all, she wound up being five minutes late. Her new sensei was severely unimpressed, but after a scolding and another bout of apologizing, they began the lesson.

"Draw your blade," said Ocelot. "I need to see to see you fight firsthand if I'm expected to break you out of mediocrity."

Sakura grit her teeth behind her mask. She was beginning to expect that she'd prefer Anko to Ocelot. Regardless though, this was to be her new teacher, so she did as instructed, drawing her katana and taking her stance. Ocelot did the same, mirroring her stance and instructing her to begin. Taking a few steps, she angled her blade downward, keeping her eye on her opponent's katana. Thrusting her blade out as a feint, she aimed toward Ocelot's right thigh only to run straight into the tip of her opponent's blade.

"Disappointing," came Ocelot's condescending voice. "Return to the starting point and try again."

The second attempt went much the same. On the third, she managed to sidestep and avoid impaling herself on the blunted tip, bringing down an overhanded slash that was handily parried by Ocelot. Her blade was knocked aside as it were a mere twig and Sakura took a slash to the face.

Her fourth and fifth attempts were better, if not lasting more than three to six exchanges. The difference between an actual, experienced ANBU operative and the recruits was stark – Sakura had gone from simply outclassed to laughably out of her league. _'And_ this _is supposed to help me improve?'_

The sixth time around, she charged in, only to come crashing to the ground, dragged by an invisible force. She sat up, looking behind her mask at her instructor. "What was that?"

" _That_ ," said Ocelot, "was _not_ a mindless, straightforward, painfully obvious attack."

Sakura rose from her position on the floor, staring dumbly at the other woman, waiting for her to continue.

"You're supposedly training to be initiated into the ANBU, and yet you always attack head-on," drawled the ANBU operative. "This isn't a shinobi assault team you're training for. ANBU don't fight fair, especially when our opponent has the advantage."

"But this is a kata—"

"First – this isn't your little training group. Second – I just told you ANBU didn't fight fair or on someone else's terms. What's hard to understand about that?"

Sakura frowned. She knew that ANBU operated outside of the lines, but was she supposed to break the rules ANBU set for her as well? "You still didn't answer my question, you know."

"What dragged you to the ground?" inquired. She palmed a kunai and tossed it up. To Sakura's surprise, it floated right above Ocelot's hand.

After a few seconds floating in the air, Sakura realized what the woman was showing her. "Chakra threads."

As she vocalized her realization, glowing strands of chakra lit up underneath the kunai, holding it in place inches above Ocelot's gloved hand. "I didn't get assigned to be your instructor so I could browbeat kenjutsu into your head. Though, by the end my instruction, you _will_ be able to embarrass those fools in the training ring."

"So you're teaching me advanced techniques instead?" ventured the pinkette.

Ocelot scoffed. "I'm not some private tutor hired to teach you a laundry list of jutsus. What I'm doing is teaching you how to fight, how to _think_ about fighting like an ANBU operative. Command seems to think our strengths lie in similar areas, so that's why you're here instead of stuck in the ring."

The younger woman nodded slowly. "Okay. So where do we start?"

"First, you're going to let that lesson we just went over soak into your head. Second, you will be learning form chakra threads and manipulate objects with them. The lesson, you can soak in on your own time. During our allotted time, we'll work on the second agenda."

As it turned out, Ocelot was a much more attentive instructor than instructor than Anko had been. Whereas Anko apparently seemed to be of the 'throw the child in the water to teach it to teach to swim' variety of teacher, Ocelot would be the kind to have you read literature on the subject before you dipped your toe in it and then once you had accomplished that grand step, yank you back out to lecture you for another hour before having you wade in waist deep.

Luckily for Sakura, the hardest thing about forming and using chakra threads aspect of chakra control, which Sakura was not only stellar at but also recently had a large amount of practice in.

Essentially, the usage of chakra threads was like directing of the flow of chakra through one's body but then forcing it out of the tenketsu in one's fingertips. It was harder than it sounded though because once out of the body, there were no fixed points to direct the chakra to. Then there was the fact that it mattered whether or not you used chakra from your hand or from your entire bod. If you used chakra from your whole body, the threads would be more stable and stronger due to a larger influx of chakra – though, Ocelot had been sure to note that the truly adept didn't need to use chakra from the whole body to have good threads and that much chakra flow tended to make the threads harder to control.

Regardless of the nuance, though, Sakura rapidly progressed. She didn't quite have dexterous control of using the threads to actually control what they were attached to, but the threads themselves and their movements were solid. Ocelot appeared to be surprised by Sakura's rapid growth and extent of control, but that appeared to only make her push Sakura even harder.

By the time their session ended, Ocelot had set the a goal for Sakura to have mastered plain manipulation of simple objects and create a steady stream of invisible threads, the hallmark of true chakra thread usage.

That brought Sakura to her current situation, twirling a kunai with her chakra threads while pouring over Orochimaru's writings. She had found, to her relief, that the subsequent scrolls had been much more focused on a singular subject, which consequently left her with less to read. The content within all of them was fascinating, if a little grotesque when referencing certain experiments, and she found herself going back to scrolls she had already read to compare them with new information she had learned from others.

Three or four scrolls in, she had managed to run out of paper for notes. She briefly entertained going to obtain some more but found herself too enthralled by the material to put it down. As much as she hated the man for taking Sasuke-kun away, she had to admit that Ororchimaru truly had prodigious talent and a mind for research and experimentation. True, her stomach turned several times when he detailed his methods of experimentation – she could see why the village had never disclosed what the Snake Sannin had been doing in his free time and why the Third had finally declared him an enemy of Konoha.

* * *

"So if the poison you used on me yesterday attacked tenketsu from Zone I, that means that there's a fundamental difference in tenketsu? Well, of course, otherwise he wouldn't have broken down the zones like he did, right? Unless, chakra travels differently in the zones, meaning that it wasn't necessarily the—"

" _Sakura!_ " yelled Anko, pinching the bridge of her nose. She halted her advancement, stopping fast on a tree limb. More quietly she added, "Please, shut up."

The pinkette scowled, as they resumed travel. She knew she had been peppering the older kunoichi with questions, but what did Anko expect after giving her so much information to read in one night? Besides, wasn't _she_ supposed to be teaching Sakura, not just dumping scrolls on her and drugging her? "Can I at least know where we're going?"

Anko didn't give any signs of hearing her, though she knew the woman had.

 _'I guess that's a 'no.''_ They had been travelling for a few hours, and Anko hadn't deemed it necessary to fill Sakura in on their destination. She'd asked if she should put in for leave at the compound, but the jōnin had waved off her concerns. She was beginning to expect that she shouldn't have listened to her, but Sakura knew better than to complain. Something about all the questions seemed to irritate Anko – she guessed the woman didn't have overly fond memories of her former sensei.

Thankfully, the pair made their stop shortly after Sakura had voiced her unanswered question. There were in the middle of a large clearing, very unlike the densely wooded area where the bunker had been on yesterday's trip.

"Geeze, I can't believe you're really interested in all that garbage," bemoaned Anko, fiddling with her fishnet where some leaves had gotten stuck in the mesh. "And as for your question – yes, the tenketsu are different but not in the way that your think. And yeah, the chakra flows differently because of that, but the poison blocked the output nodes, not the receptors, so—"

"Wait, wait, then that means—"

"Shut it kid, I'll dig around for some scrolls that explain it. I'm not about to waste my day gabbing about chakra theory."

"So this isn't common knowledge for most jōonin?" asked Sakura curiously. A shake of Anko's head, said that, 'no, it wasn't.' "But you seem to know so much about it, and you don't really – I mean, er, never mind."

"And what's that supposed to mean, brat?" barked the jonin, shooting a glare at Sakura. "What? Just because that shit's boring doesn't mean I can't grasp what's going on. I'm not an idiot."

Sakura kept quiet on that front, doubting that the jōnin would care for her thoughts on the matter. Still, Anko _was_ a former student of the snake sannin's; perhaps there was more to her than there seemed to be. She supposed she was in a good position to find out personally. Anko finished taking a swig out of her canteen, capped it, and put it in her pack.

"Alright, kid, I brought you out here to meet someone," said the woman, wiping her mouth on her sleeve. "Stand back a little."

 _'Meet someone?'_ she thought to herself. Her question was answered as Anko bit down on her thumb.

 _'Ah. A summon.'_


	4. Into the Shadows 1:4

A few hand seals later, a snake about five feet in length appeared under Anko's hand. Still kneeling, she held her arm out so that the summon could coil around it. Once it had finished, the tokubetsu jōnin rose to her full height with her arm still outstretched.

The summon's head was lifted over Anko's palm, its slit-pupils gazing directly at Sakura. She suppressed a brief shiver as its forked tongue flicked out at her. Summon or no, she had never been overfond of snakes.

"Extend your hand," demanded Anko. "And don't move it."

Sakura remained hesitant. "Um, Anko-san, don't you th—"

"C'mon, brat, let's get this over with!" barked the older woman. "I'll explain as we go."

Sakura did as instructed, fighting the instinct to jerk back as the snake summon struck at the fleshy part of the base of her hand, between her thumb and wrist. As soon as the snake released Sakura, Anko released the summon, and it disappeared into smoke.

"Stay with me, brat," commanded the tokubetsu jōnin. "This is a bit different than last time, alright? More potent but also less subtle so it works with a lot less finesse."

Sakura's head swam as she fumbled around trying to grasp at thoughts, but even her own emotions eluded her. Fear was a far off concept, blurry light funneled through her pupils, and echoes from what seemed like a distant place hummed in her ears. She was aware of some discomfort, but she couldn't tell whose it was – could you even feel other people's discomfort? Was that a thing? If it weren't for her superior chakra control, she wouldn't have noticed that her chakra was fluctuating, being expelled from her in force in one second and then replenishing itself at an astonishing rate in another. Something about the rapid draining struck her as important, but she couldn't piece together why.

The pinkette remained incoherent for longer than she could really tell before her thoughts began to structure themselves again. The first thing she noticed as her vision cleared was Mitarashi Anko staring down at her with her brown eyes. Sakura held back the tongue-lashing she wanted to give the tokubetsu jōnin for poisoning her _again_ only because of the bile that boiled up from her stomach. That woman was psychotic. She swallowed, trying not to gag and tried to focus on what the older woman was saying to her.

"—was for, kid? Remember how to stop it."

It took longer than it should have for Sakura to interpret Anko-san's meaning. The earlier trial with the chakra poison – it had been to prepare her for this? She grappled and struggled to properly gain a foothold on her chakra coils. She could already feel the differences in how the snake's venom affected her in contrast to how the poison from before had. The biggest difference was that the venom was actually powerful enough weaken her chakra. Like before, there was chakra flow disruption, but it wasn't as complex, not as knotted in her system, spread throughout her chakra coils. Rather, the venom was powerful enough to detect easily – it was pulsing in a radial pattern right from the center of her core.

Sakura wasn't exactly sure how to combat the weakness of her chakra, though she guessed it was possible that the venom was so concentrated in her core that it was diluting her chakra? It didn't much matter if she didn't stop the venom from spreading. She started the process and swirled her chakra flow in small, concentric patterns around the edges of the source. Hopefully even with the potency of her chakra dulled, it would be enough break up the affected area.

Her stomach lurched and pain knotted in her abdomen, and Sakura decided to ease her way into Anko's more direct approach. The jolt of pain she received after pushing chakra through the center of the area made her cry out in pain, earning a raised brow from the jōnin that atched over her. For a moment, though, the mass of corrupt chakra pulsed and weakened so Sakura gritted her teeth and tried again. This time, as she blasted her chakra, she incorporated the circular motion along with the blast and found that it created weak points in the venom's hold. By using the smaller circular motions in the weaker areas as well, the method slowly whittled down the corrupt area until her chakra was clean again.

Though she was quite pleased with herself for managing a much more efficient method during this brush, it had evidently still taken her some time, if the dozing elder kunoichi was any indication. Tired as Sakura was, the girl spared some energy to kick at the woman's leg.

"Mn? Oh, you're back. You know, you should really work on that multitasking thing, kid. It's not good to get so wrapped up something that you can't tell what's going on around you," informed the jōnin helpfully as she sat up and raked her fingers through her hair.

The pinkette shot a glare at her superior. "This is the second time you've poisoned me without warning. I'm beginning to think you're just doing this to vent some sort of sick sadism."

The manic grin that broke out of Anko-san's face didn't do anything to abate her expressed feelings. She suppressed a shudder at the bared teeth. "So what if I am? You going to do something about it, kid?"

The teasing wink nearly sent Sakura over the edge. If the venom didn't kill her, this certainly would. She reminded herself not to make the mistake of bringing up this particular subject in front to Mitarashi again, lest she die of an aneurysm before she even made chūnin. She didn't want to know if the other woman was serious or just really good at deflecting the subject of blame. She had decided to ignore the comment and probe further about _why_ she was poisoned when Anko burst out into raucous laughter.

After her fit of delirium ceased, she looked at Sakura, amusement still clearly playing on her features. "Sorry, it's just too fun watching you squirm!"

The pinkette stared back flatly in annoyance. _'If this is how Naruto is going to turn out…I may just have to kill him now before he becomes this insufferable.'_

"Ease up on glare, brat. You need to loosen up," said the kunoichi, leaning back and propping up on her elbows. "Alright, now back to business so listen up!"

The younger girl squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, trying to readjust, though whether or not the adjustment was to being coherent again or to Anko's rapid mood shift, she wasn't quite sure. Either way, she gave curt nod of affirmation, ready to hear about what this exercise had been about.

"How much do you know about summons, Sakura?"

The kunoichi did a quick mental rundown of everything she'd read about summons or seen with Kakashi-sensei's ninken. "Summons are nin-animals, usually born into a realm of their species. They form contracts with shinobi and aid them with various tasks, depending on what the summon's abilities are suited for when working in conjunction with the summoner. Summons are often associated with familial lines and once a contract is signed, the summoner often—"

Sakura's eyes widened as she narrowly avoided a dango stick that was flicked at her face. " _I_ know what a summon is, I was just asking if you did. Geez, kid, I'm not an Academy teacher, all I wanted was a 'yes' or a 'no', not a textbook definition."

Sakura reddened at Anko's rebuke. It was true, that she was always a bit bookish, with theory being one of her strong points. Anko quickly moved on from the subject, however, and ignored Sakura's embarrassment.

"It's not always as simple as that," informed the older woman. "Snakes in particular can be a pain in the ass to contract with. Arrogant little bastards think they're special or something so there are a lot of 'requirements.' More like the pretentious, scaly, cold-blooded, little—"

The kunoichi exhaled violently, clearly worked up about the subject. The woman's venting was slowly pieced together by Sakura while she recovered from her frustration.

"So you're teaching me how to summon snakes?" inquired the younger girl, head tilted quizzically. This assignment was getting stranger and stranger. She still wasn't sure exactly how all this was going to help her with any assignment – besides, if Anko already had the knowledge and was trained by the Snake Sanin, then why weren't the higher ups using her?

Anko grimaced, nodding. "Yeah, that's the idea. You're going to need to be a little better at that, though."

"Better at what?"

"Dealing with the venom! Geez, kid, I thought you were supposed to be smart or something."

Sakura suppressed a flare of irritation. "So then that's prerequisite of contracting with the snakes?"

"Sort of. It isn't a hard and fast rule, but they look down on 'prey animals' so it's better if you have a head start. You'll need to work up a resistance to regular venom as well. And as time goes on, your tolerance will be more solid than pretty much any other shinobi's."

"Doesn't that sort of thing normally take a while?"

"It'll move faster 'cuz you've got me! Besides, you won't need to be totally immune just to contract. The rest will come after you've successfully formed it."

Sakura nodded slowly. It was a daunting process and sure to be a grueling one, but that was simply the life of a shinobi – she'd surely face worse than this if she were to continue to work with ANBU. Once Anko saw that the younger girl had accepted the ordeal, she reached for her pack and pulled out a manual of some sort and a leather case of vials and a syringe.

"Normal venom keeps better than chakra-based venom, so this will be the easy part," she said and tossed the equipment to the younger girl. "For the next few months, use the manual to make the cocktails to inject yourself with. Won't be fun, but this ain't fun for me either."

Sakura had the suspicious feeling that it would be hurting her a lot more than the older kunoichi, but she kept the thought to herself. The safety of self-administering venom cocktails with minimal instruction seemed questionable but that also seemed also seemed like a good way to earn a caustic response. "So what about the chakra venom?"

Anko sighed. "We'll meet here to work on that, I guess. I thought I may show you summon of mine, but – that'll have to wait."

Sakura winced inwardly. Had she done something wrong or—

"It's not you, kid," said the older woman, as if she had read Sakura's mind. "It's my thing – don't worry about it."

Sakura nodded. "So should we go ahead and try with the chakra venom again?"

The other woman shook her head. "Nah, I need to check on something. Just get back to the town and administer that cocktail. Be sure to read that manual or you'll, well, just read the manual, kid."

And with that helpful parting advice, the tokubetsu jōnin shunshined away. Sakura shook her head and wondered if the superiors she was assigned were handpicked to show her how _not_ to behave when she had subordinates of her own.

* * *

The next few weeks with Anko went about the same. Though they continued to meet in the same place, they never did anything other than work on her ability to combat chakra venom. Sakura's progress went fairly well, though every time she made substantial progress, Anko would summon a different snake whose venom worked in a different way. It was a tedious, frustrating process, but she was definitely becoming proficient at the practice.

Her time with Ocelot, however, was infinitely more miserable. Between the strain with her chakra from her training with Anko and and physical toll taken by the venom cocktail, she was put at an even greater disadvantage when training with the frosty ANBU kunoichi. Sakura was prohibited from sharing the details of her time spent working with Anko, and despite the fact that Ocelot knew that she was training elsewhere, the woman refused to give any leeway.

Sakura liked to think that if she were solely focusing on Ocelot's tasks, it would have been fairly easy for her to handle. Unfortunately, she had less chakra to work with than normal and the deftness of her control had been dulled as well, making it difficult to manifest chakra threads at all, much less manipulate them. Given her unhappiness with Sakura's performance, Ocelot had also heaped genjutsu practice on the younger girl as well. Evidently, it was part of Ocelot's 'subversive' fighting style. It also happened to be something that required good chakra control. The pinkette supposed she shouldn't be overly annoyed at her predicament – her control on a bad day was better than the average chūnin's on her best.

That being said, she wasn't being evaluated on a chūnin's scale. She was being evaluated on the scale of a conceited, dismissive, pretentious, cat-mask wearing ANBU operative. And she evidently wasn't up to par.

"Again."

"Ocelot-san, I—"

" _Again_."

She suppressed a sigh and opened up her eyes to dimly lit room. It was a familiar scene, not overly different from the one she had been seeing for the past three and a half hours. But more than that, it was her bedroom from back home, when she lived with her parents. To her left, a few feet in front of her was her mother. She beckoned to Sakura, bidding that she follow, probably to come for breakfast, if it was like the previous times.

The pinkette ignored the woman, actively blocking out the sound. Normally, a genjutsu like this attempted to mask the fact that the target was in a genjutsu at all. And Sakura had to admit, Ocelot was very good at it – it used sensory input that the target was already receiving and simply filled in details with memories that were easily at hand. Sakura was in the dark, the genjutsu placed her in dimly lit room. The room she was in was small, it placed her in her bedroom, which was equally small. Ocelot's voice was in a certain pitch and tone, one that happened to be similar to that of her mother. And so on.

However, after about two thirds of the way through their session, even the skilled use of the illusion by Ocelot had worn off. Besides, that wasn't the object of the exercise anyway. Rather than recognize and dispel the genjutsu, the goal was to navigate herself successfully as if she weren't under it at all.

Normally, there wasn't much point in such a practice – the Academy didn't consider it necessary because it was much more practical to attempt to dispel a genjutsu and trying to operate while under the influence of one was a shaky thing at best. Not to mention that if you couldn't get out of genjutsu, chances were that you were done for, even if you could somehow manage to navigate while under its effects. Ocelot, however, thought that was immensely shortsighted and given her penchant for making use of the element of surprise, it seemed to suit her. She also mentioned that this practice also helped with the construction of genjutsus. Which is why Sakura found herself attempting to snake her chakra threads to a kunai to the right side of the room. The goal was to pick it up and send it to the other side of the room.

The fact that Ocelot had opted for an exercise that required Sakura to make use of two techniques she had yet to master had not gone unnoticed by the pinkette. However, she had to admit that it was efficient, which was something she could appreciate. She also happened to be determined not to let Ocelot wear her down – she _would_ win, dammit. Haruno Sakura would _not_ be beaten. _Shannaro!_

Sakura backpedaled a few feet back from her position and then started to snake a chakra thread along the wall behind her, intent on simply following the wall until it led to the kunai she was after. The visage of her mother stalked closer, and Sakura shrank away. As long as she kept track of her chakra thread, it didn't matter where she was.

Her surroundings shifted. There wasn't a room anymore, just a small, dark area surrounded by tall trees, and this time the figure opposite of her was that Otogakure girl that had been part of the team that ambushed her in the Forest of Death. Sakura's mind bent, trying to reconcile the feeling of a hard surface she could feel her chakra thread pressed against with the wide open space her eyes saw. A senbon sailed her way, and she stretched her neck to the side to avoid it, still trying to pay the least amount of attention to the other figure that she could. It was best that she didn't pay too close attention – the more focus placed on the details of her surroundings, the easier the genjutsu could take hold and tailor itself to her mind. And even when not taking that into consideration, she couldn't actually be sure that the figure was merely forming itself around Ocelot anymore – it may just be pure illusion now.

It was hard to place exactly where the tip of her probing thread was, and she wondered whether or not the jutsu could interfere with her ability to sense things of that nature as well. Filing the question away for later, Sakura redoubled her focus while she drew a kunai in case of attack. Cold metal touched her neck and she jerked back, raising her left hand in defense and slamming the kunai backward with her right. She felt her attacking arm get trapped at the elbow and twisted at the wrist. The pinkette released the kunai as her attacker continued to go on the offensive, intent on locking her arm and forcing her into submission. She smirked to herself, as she pulled a finger on her right hand and directed the fallen kunai up toward where her opponent would be.

Sakura was briefly aware of a constricting sensation before she crashed to the ground. When she looked up, she noticed the appearance of the training room had returned. Senses back in full once more, she noticed the probing thread she had sent out had actually snaked over the kunai that she was meant to retrieve.

"Better that time," came a voice from behind her. "Your awareness still isn't as acute as needed, but your defensive trap with your kunai showed some promise."

Sakura brightened at the praise. It wasn't often that the ANBU taskmaster had anything positive to say. As a matter of that, this may have actually been the first time—

"Not that it counts for much, since you let me get the drop on you in the first place. Or do you think that an assassin is really just going to hold a blade to your neck for fun before they off you?"

 _'No, but I know what I'd do to_ you _if I ever had you under one,'_ thought the young kunoichi, irritation taking precedence over the wilting disappointment that had come along with Ocelot's words. What she would give to have a sane, _helpful_ mentor.

"Oh, and your thread control still isn't anything to write home about. I expect it to be noticeably improved by next meeting. Regardless of whatever else you may be doing, it really should be second nature," drawled Ocelot condescendingly. "You're dismissed."

Sakura rolled over off her stomach and lied on the floor for a while after Ocelot left. Had it been a few months ago, she would've cried – tears streaming, puddles on the floor, body-racking sobs – the works. By now though, it wasn't even exhausting anymore; she was just numb to it all. Not living up to anyone's standards was just the norm – she hadn't even lived up to her own since she graduated from the Academy. Evidently, _someone_ had seen something in her; she supposed she wouldn't have been training with ANBU because she was a no talent, lifelong genin. Shimura-san certainly didn't seem like the type to place a losing bet.

 _'Who are you trying to convince, Haruno?'_

"Maa, is this room taken?"

The lazy drawl was unmistakable, even as it was filtered through the ANBU mask that was no doubt covering his face. She didn't even bother turning her head to confirm. "Ne ne, Kakashi-sensei, it's all yours as long as you don't step on me."

"It's a breach of protocol to name anyone with their mask on, you know?" came her (former?) sensei's easy rebuke.

She was never quite certain whether or not he was serious when it came to things like that. Sakura rolled her eyes anyway. "Be sure to file a report. I could use a break bought with a minor infraction."

"Ah," he said, no doubt taking note of her pity party. "Surely you wouldn't be wishing extra paperwork on me?"

She allowed herself a small smirk. That was Hatake Kakashi all over – he probably wouldn't think twice about accepting an S-Class mission, but triplicate sent him running off like a cowed puppy.

The pinkette wondered how long the shinobi had known about her affiliation with ANBU. It was not secret that Sharingan no Kakashi was an ANBU member so it was likely that he had connections within the organization that would have notified him of a student's involvement. It wasn't exactly the first time he had spoken with her since the unofficial dissolution of Team 7, but it was the most relaxed the man had been in conversation with her since then. Though, with Kakashi-sensei, that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"Of course not. The horror," she said in dry placation. She wondered whether or not it would be appropriate to ask when he found out about her. Or if it'd scare him off if she asked how he'd been. Part of her was still resentful that her sensei that abandoned her after the others left, but she'd come to understand in the months following that he was hardly without his own scars. Sakura settled for a safer topic. "So is it just training or are you here for an assignment?"

"Just finished debriefing," came the succinct response.

The details of his assignment were sure to be confidential, but she wasn't eager to let conversation die. Four whole exchanges from her sensei – what success. "Run into much trouble?"

"Just a tracking mission," sighed the jōnin. She heard shifting that sounded suspiciously like the removal of a worn, yellow book from a back pocket. "You know it's unhealthy to wallow. You should pick up a hobby."

Sakura suppressed an eye roll. She was torn between reminding him of the time when he had once inquired as to whether or not she had any hobbies and asking whether or not the rustling of his book had been intentional. "You mean like the public reading of porn?"

Before the man had a chance to respond, she had a vision of Kakashi reading _Icha Icha_ aloud from the rooftops of Konoha to a scandalized audience and dissolved into a giggle fit. After she recovered, she craned her head to find her sensei in an ANBU dog mask, flipping through his book, seemingly impassive as ever. "Ne, Kakashi-sensei, how's your reading voice?"

If she hadn't have been looking for a reaction, she would've missed the momentary cessation of movement as Hatake Kakashi froze mid-page flip before continuing on as if she hadn't said anything at all. A small thrill of delight shot through her, amusement playing on her lips beneath her mask. Small victories.

She allowed herself another snigger before she moved on from the subject. "So has Naruto been drowning you in letters as well?"

"Mm," hummed the grey-haired shinobi, as if he were actually deep in thought about matter. "I'm afraid I lost my letter opener some time ago. I keep forgetting to buy a new one."

"Uh-huh," remarked the pinkette. She would have scolded him if she hadn't been negligent with her responses as well. "Well, there must be a thief about. Mine's gone missing as well."

"Tragic," he somberly remarked, all deadpan.

She sighed. "One of us should respond. You know how – how _Naruto_ he can be."

Her sensei nodded sagely behind his book. "Yes. Very Naruto."

She playfully glowered before remember she was behind a mask. Most inconvenient. "Are you hungry, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Actually," he said as he put away his book. "I have an appointment I should get going to."

The pinkette forced down her frustration. And they had been doing so well too. "You? Eager to get to an appointment? You wouldn't be coming down with something, would you?"

"Hm. If I wait longer than an hour or two, the Hokage has an ANBU detail sent after me."

 _'Just finished a debriefing._ Right _.'_

She relented. It wasn't like she could push him into it, and she didn't want to enable any of his procrastination anyway. "Hai hai. You should get going, then."

The grey-haired ninja flicked a lazy goodbye before he shunshined away. Sakura briefly thought about ambushing the jōnin outside of the Hokage's office later before she decided that she needed to get out of her sweaty clothes before she entertained doing anything else. Maybe she ought to take a break? The hot springs? Or maybe just a nap. Sleep sounded nice.

She delayed her plans long enough to stop by the library to find some sources that outlined the extent to which genjutsu could affect sensory input. Afterward, she headed straight for her room and collapsed on her bed, falling asleep before she even got around to changing clothes.

She awoke about two hours later to a knock on her door. She forced her sore body up and tried to shrug off the grogginess. One the secretaries she recognized from the complex was waiting for her.

"Haruno Sakura. You are expected in Conference Room 9A three hours from now exactly in ANBU dress," informed the man flatly. She nodded and gave verbal affirmation, prompting the secretary to take his leave.

 _'Huh. Well, this is strange.'_ Orders were normally given out at the start of her day when she reported to her office to work on her reports. There hadn't been any new developments in them of which she was aware, and there hadn't been anything else that had been out of the ordinary either. Whatever it was, it evidently involved multiple people since a conference room was being used. From what she'd picked up in the months working here, it'd become clear to her that briefings were normally held for team missions in those rooms. _'But I'm not even a full ANBU member yet.'_

The kunoichi decided that the best course of action was to simply put it out of her mind – she'd find out what was needed of her in a few hours. A quick half hour later, she was clean and in her ANBU get-up sans masks. She passed the rest of her time studying the readings she'd found on genjutsu and sensory input. Evidently, she was right in her observation – most genjutsu were aimed at the physical senses rather than a target's chakra senses. _'Hm. I wonder if that means sensor types have an easier time of breaking genjutsu.'_

The readings she had didn't give her any insight into that particular question, but it did cite a few other pieces that dealt with the subject. She filed the knowledge away for later usage – with luck, there'd be more specific information in the other pieces. She had gotten to a fairly interesting section on the mechanics of exactly how the chakra sensory system slid under the radar of genjutsu when she glanced up to find that she had fifteen minutes until her meeting. The kunoichi donned her mask and left to go seek out the room.

It didn't take her overlong to find the it. Steeling her nerves, Sakura opened the door and strode through.

* * *

AN: Hey look, a cliffhanger. Anyway, sorry length of time between updates. I'm hoping to get on a schedule for my fics, but I don't want to give any hard dates until I work out a reasonable flow for myself. This is especially true, as I hope to start having chapters at least 5k words now rather than just 2-3k. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this one.

Feel free to comment, whether to ask a question, give a critique, or simply correct any typos I made. Thanks for reading!


	5. Into the Shadows 1:5

Steeling her nerves, Sakura opened the door and strode through. Inside, she found she must have been one of the last ones to arrive. There was a long, rectangular table that went down through the center of the room. Along one side of the table sat six individuals, all clad in ANBU uniform, with varying animal masks one. On the opposite sat, there were five seats that were similarly filled. Sakura spied Ocelot's voluminous white hair and tall figure sitting on the right side of the table at the far end.

At the end of the table furthest from the door, an ANBU member with wavy brown hair demanded in a deep voice, "Take a seat."

Sakura fought the urge to swallow and relaxed her muscles as she sat down, taking the seat next to the end of the table nearest the door. Sitting amongst the host of black ops members was daunting; it was unlikely that any of the others were rookies like herself, much less associates rather than official operatives. A pit formed in her stomach as she tried her best not to fidget in the dead silent room. A few eyes glanced her way from behind porcelain masks, though whether just out of curiosity or disdain, she couldn't tell. Beyond Ocelot, none of the members gathered seemed familiar, though that didn't necessarily mean anything. While most ANBU members didn't take great pains to hide their identities beyond the mask unless specifically on an infiltration mission, it wasn't uncommon for some of the more paranoid members to try and obfuscate their features from time to time – even going so far as to cycle through appearances operation by operation.

In her effort to avoid staring, it took some time for the young kunoichi to notice that one of the pairs of eyes that was upon her was directly across the table. Behind a cat mask warm, brown irises were aimed at her person. Once Sakura locked her own gaze with the stranger's, the other woman gave a slow nod and broke her stare. Had it been any other time, the pinkette would've questioned what it meant, but given the circumstances she elected simply to take it as much needed reassurance. She noted the features of the stranger's mask in detail for future reference and turned her attention to the rest of the room.

There were corkboards on the three walls without the door, all of which had papers tacked onto them. However, from Sakura's vantage point, only the right hand wall and two-thirds of the far wall were visible. Rather than prolong her fretting over the poor design of rooms such as these because of that bothersome visibility issue, the young kunoichi busied herself with the corkboard across from her. On it, she recognized a large map of the Land of Water with various routes depicted on it. She could readily name a few of them, mostly main roads and supply lines, as she had dealt with them in some of the reports she had put together on the nation.

Other than just the map, there were strings tacked to specific locations that led to pictures that surrounded the edges of the board. Like the routes on the map, the pinkette also recognized some of the sketches as prominent figures in the turmoil that surrounded Kiri leadership. Terumī Mei's portrait stood out in particular with her striking red hair – underneath it were no less than six symbols denoting the nature affinities of the woman, as well as an S-Rank notation. Sakura noticed that the pictures that framed the map seemed to be divided, with one faction each to the left, right, and top. Along the bottom were people of importance whose allegiance was uncertain or neutral.

The door swiftly opened and fractured her concentration. She noticed the stiffening of several members in the group, letting her know that the whomever entered was of some importance. The figure that sat at her right at the table's head had short, spiky brown hair and wore what appeared to be yet another cat mask. Honestly, it was as if Konoha had run out of animals to assign.

A kunoichi behind him with blue black hair stalked over to the back of the room next to the far away board, and Sakura did a double take when she saw Kakashi lazily wander into the room in his ANBU gear and close the door behind him, propping himself up against the wall next to it, mirroring the kunoichu on the opposite side of the room, save for his lazy posture and hands shoved into his pockets.

The man to her right gave a curt nod, and the ANBU member at the other end of the table stood up. "You have all been called to form a cadre devoted to stabilizing the political climate in the Land of Water with the intent of installing a regime in Kirigakure that is aligned with the interests of Konoha. From henceforth this mission will shall be known as Operation Calm Waters. The target date for official commencement of Calm Waters will be six weeks from the current date; at that time the members of this cadre will establish contact with Kiri-based allies and set up footholds for centers of activity in the nation. During this briefing, we shall outline the current situation in Mizu as well as identify various persons of interest.

The current breakdown of strife can be divided into three separate factions: the remnant of the old regime, the native resistance, and foreign-controlled outliers. The old regime consists of the elites who were in power under the Yondaime Mizukage; the native resistance's leadership consists of more minor familial lines and those possessing kekkei genkai who were persecuted; the outliers are insiders who rely on Kumogakure support for traction. First, we will cover native resistance, which will be the faction to which will provide support."

The apparent cadre leader rose from his seat at the table and made his way over to the board in front of Sakura. From there, he gestured to the six figures pictured to the right of the map. He started with Terumī, and began to give brief backgrounds on the selected members. Sakura knew most about what he had to say about Terumī herself – she'd been an experienced jōnin at the start of the Yondaime Mizukage's reign who'd survived the kekkei genkai purges because of both her considerable abilities and her lack of affiliation with any particular clan name. Before the Mizukage had her supplanted, she was also the equivalent of Konoha's Jōnin Commander, which was of note given that she was not in the traditional circle of the village's elite. After the death of the Yondaime Mizukage, she styled herself as the Godaime Hokage with the backing of several other disaffected elites.

Following Terumī was one of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen – Hōzuki Mangetsu. He had been of particular interest to Sakura when he came up in the reports on Mizu, given her previous run in with Zabuza. Hōzuki's motivations for joining the resistance were unclear, as his family line was descended from the Nidaime Mizukage and was therefore very tightly bound to the top of the Mist's caste system. The ANBU leader didn't offer any insight on that point, though he did mention that the shinobi was highly dangerous, even for a Swordsman, given his usage of many of the swords that fell out of ownership following the death of the late Mizukage. His holding of the swords had gone a long way toward the legitimacy of the movement, though his own skills and status played no small part either.

The next figure down was a hunter-nin with blue hair and an eye patch whose face she didn't recognize, though she did recall the name 'Ao.' He was not a man of much political clout, but he had quickly been identified as one of Terumī's top lieutenants and was responsible for the cause of much grief for the other factions. Sakura was reminded of Haku and Kakashi's words about Kiri's hunter-nins. If Haku wasn't even an official shinobi and held that much skill, an actual hunter-nin was bound to be impressive – from what reports she had read on the corps remaining with the regime, they were certainly highly lethal.

Chūkichi, Terumī's third lieutenant, was a renowned jōnin of the Mist who had gained a reputation in the Third Shinobi War as a keen guerilla warfare tactician who made use of keen sensor abilities and a variant of Kiri's Hiding in the Mist jutsu to harry enemy forces where they were weakest.

Sakura didn't recognize the next two at all. One kuniochi by the name of Umeko and a shinobi called Katsurō – were the last two of Terumī's lieutenants. Umeko was a scion of a family from the top of the caste system while Katsurō came from Kiri's lowest caste. There was little information on Umeko's prowess on the battlefield, but it was known that she commanded a large contingent of Terumī's forces that she largely drew from her own estate and connections. Katsurō, however, was somewhat unconventional, not unlike Terumī herself. The shinobi was fairly young, though older than Sakura, and had made a name for himself after storming the kage building in a fit rage. The attempt on the Mizukage's life failed, but the lives of many high ranking bodyguards and Kiri ANBU were lost in the assault – that, heaped onto the fact that Katsurō survived at all, earned him a rather large reputation amongst the lower class nina as a sort of folk hero.

Those the powerhouses of the native resistance – the top leaders that Calm Waters cadre was poised to assist. They were just the martial forces in play, however, and the ANBU leader speaking was sure to note that behind them was a board with the actors from the political and economic sectors of Mizu. Sakura hung onto every word the man said and committed the details to memory. It was hardly an accident that she was integrated within the unit, given current ongoing assignment. That made her at once more at ease and anxious. It was nice not to be reeling to catch up in terms of knowledge of the subject matter, but she also guessed that more would be expected of her because of that same fact.

The leader of the briefing went on to outline the other military actors. From how he spoke, it seemed that the native resistance had the advantage when compared side by side with the other two regimes. However, recent engagements suggested that the other two factions had recently worked in tandem against Terumī's group. A hard alliance between the two wasn't likely but at the least, they were sharing intelligence with one another and coordinating the timing of their attacks. That, together with the fact Konoha's own intelligence from Kumo suggested that reinforcements were being sent to aid the outliers, put the native resistance at a disadvantage, and it would likely be put on its back foot without aid of its own. Sakura realized it was likely more serious than the man stated – Terumī relied on support from the smaller islands that delivered supplies necessary for combating the more well-equipped regime remnant and the Kumo-backed faction. If Kumo's reinforcements included any sort of naval aspect or diplomatic envoy that could either disrupt supply lines or wrangle the favor of Terumī's allies outside of mainland Kumo, then the native resistance would implode on itself.

Sakura hesitated, unsure whether or it would be wise to bring up the issue – after all, the man still had to review the political and economic players before the brief was over. He had already moved on to the strategic locations all of the factions occupied so the pinkette elected to withhold her comments for the time. She'd wait until the end of the brief to evaluate whether or not her input was needed – it wasn't like whomever put this together hadn't reviewed the write ups she'd compiled. The operation still had six weeks until it was officially underway so she'd have plenty of time to consult with either Ocelot or Kakashi about how to go about presenting the angle to the proper person. By using that route she'd also be much less likely to embarrass herself in front of the cadre by awkwardly stuttering conjecture.

As it turned out, the analyses and estimates that she'd submitted were brought up in some capacity when their leader moved over to the other side of the room and onto the next topic. The flow of supplies and mobility facilitated by political ties that allowed for access to certain areas and the geography that allowed for the ease of movement, had both been Terumī's steadfast allies the further from the center of the country she was. Her spheres of influence were allowing for strategic chokepoints to be set up in such a way that the old regime was essentially under siege. Though the resistance didn't have the same political clout the regime forces did, that kind of power only went so far when the source of it was being stemmed off. It was interesting to see Kiri's own guerilla tactics being used so effectively against the very ones who'd once been at the center of it. On the other hand, the remnant still had control of some of the mines, and a handful of ports of its own that were still operational, as well as the years and years of contracts to take advantage of them. Meanwhile the outliers had Kumo support from the north as its main source of supplies and political capital.

What concerned Sakura was that Kumo could apply leverage on the minor nations surrounding Kiri and clamp down in an even greater way than Terumī and her people had been. Should the Raikage decide to follow down that line, it would be a major power play on the part of Kumogakure. That particular hypothetical was what concerned Sakura, and she wished she knew more about Lightning and its nation. Making a move like that could potentially provoke the other Hidden Villages and trigger another Shinobi World War if it were to be done with heavy handedness – which was something Kumo had a reputation for. The young kunoichi made a mental note to look more into the minor nations surrounding the Mist; she'd already done some reading on them as necessary, but she'd need a more nuanced understanding of their inner workings to see exactly how nations other than Kiri could apply pressure to them.

Finally, the speaker arrived to the last business of order at the board at the far end of the room. He started by taking out scrolls from a satchel that was hung from the board. When they were passed to everyone in the room, the shinobi spoke once more.

"In these scrolls, you will find dossiers on those we have discussed today and other persons of interest. In addition, they will have write ups on the situation that further expound upon what I have already told you. You are to treat these scrolls as sensitive documents and only access their contents in secure locations. You will have all of these read within the week, after which we will reconvene in this room to go over specifics.

In the meantime, anyone engaged in double time will refrain from duties unaffiliated with the ANBU. Inter-ANBU safety protocols are in place until stated otherwise in regards to both the wearing of masks and discussion of the mission with anyone in the cadre. Operatives Hound and Tenzo will be reporting directly to the Hokage while Operative Hinoto and I will report to the ANBU Director. Triads One, Two, and Three, you will report to evaluation and mission training for the week. Analysts, you will remain here for a short while to receive your orders for the week. The rest of you are dismissed."

Sakura waited patiently for the room to clear out; neither Kakashi nor Ocelot acknowledged her on the way out, which she supposed was fair, considering the safety protocols that were in place. When a dozen ANBU members had filed out, the apparent leader of the cadre withdrew three manila folders from the satchel and beckoned for her and the two remaining in the room to come forward.

After handing out the folders, the man instructed, "Review these orders – they should each coincide with your respective projects. Then, following the guidelines, start a write up a brief to deliver to the rest of a cadre at a later date. Dismissed."

Sakura followed suit when the other two nodded and exited the room. From the conference room, she made her way to her office where she did her analysis work. It was late when the meeting was called in the first place, so she was unsurprised to find that it was dawn when she checked the time. It would only be a few hours before she was required to report in for assignments so the pinkette decided that she would power through without rest and go ahead and read her orders.

 _'Coffee first,'_ she decided. The kunoichi had small kettle set up in her office for just this kind of occasion, and she set about making her liquid wakefulness.

After she finished, she sat at her desk with a mug in her hand and opened the envelop. She found that the shinobi was right about the order coinciding with her ongoing assignment – she was to write a brief estimating stability of Terumī's position and advise on the best possible avenue of recourse that could be taken by an ANBU triad in conjunction with a select contingent of Terumī's faction, led by one of her lieutenants.

She sighed and wondered to herself if it mattered what contingent and what lieutenant. After briefly mulling it over, she took it as open ended, to be decided by her upon evaluation. It wasn't in the orders, but it was perhaps wise to best to assemble an alternate plan in addition to what she thought was the best course of action, which meant that the young analyst had half again as much work as was dictated to her. It was a fortunate thing that she had a neat, organized system of the files she'd been working on – that meant she could pull them out right away and get to work reading. It wasn't that she didn't know the content well, but before she was looking at the information with a larger scale in mind – this time, she was scaling down her scope to only one facet of Mizu's fragmented political landscape. After she skimmed through the relevant reports she'd compiled, Sakura would sit down and divide everything into sectors and subsectors – such as military into demographics and equipment and numbers and health or position into terrain and climate and proximity to power sources of any kind. Doing the same with the other forces acting on the resistance such as the other two factions and civilian population unrest would allow her to juxtapose positive and negative aspects in relation to the stability of Terumī's people. After that, she'd chart out the most relevant aspects of the situation, drawing out the links between the people and the areas of stability and instability to narrow down the fractures and strong points in order to better ascertain where the assigned forces should be sent.

Satisfied now that she had a plan of attack, she threw herself into the plethora of papers she'd amassed over the past few months. Sakura went through everything systematically to maximize her efficiency, divvying up everything into piles as she went along and making annotations to help expedite her thinking for later on when she would map and chart everything out. By the time she needed to report in, Sakura had no less than fifteen mountainous stack of papers and had drained four cups of coffee. When she left to see the secretary, she did so with bloodshot eyes and her fifth mug of coffee in hand.

"Analyst," greeted the secretary in the typical monotone. "Please, close the door behind you."

The door clicked as she shut it. It was unusual – normally order reports were simply handed out and the reporting member left. The pinkette approached the desk, fiddling with the mug in her hands. "What's on for today?"

"I've called you in to inform you that five weeks from now you are to undergo evaluation for full ANBU status as a dual class Management and Coordination analyst as well as field certification. While at this juncture, you will not be inducted as an operative, but you will still be required to meet strenuous tests evaluating your abilities. Here are the files you need to have filled out on the day of your evaluation, as well as the requirements you will need to meet to pass," informed the secretary as he handed her a packet of documents. "If you have no questions, you may also take your orders for today – you will notice that you will now alternate your training sessions from day to day in order to maximize your analyst duties."

If Sakura had been more awake, she would have had the energy to be nervous about all of what the secretary had just relayed to her. As it stood, she simply accepted her latest mass of new papers and stalked out of the door. She'd had quite enough surprises, thank you. The next few weeks were going to need to slow down if she were expected to survive them. She groaned internally – these first six weeks were only going to be the beginning.

 _'Quit your whining, Sakura. This is what you wanted, right?' she thought to herself. 'Well. It's not exactly helping me on the way to catching up with the rest of the team, is it?...Even if I'm still ultimately training to become a full operative,'_ mused the kunoichi. Shimura-sama's words spoken to her months ago came to her in her thoughts: "there are those of us who must do our part in the dark, unseen by all."

She reflected on the idea. When the girl had first heard the words, she'd thought the man had simply been talking about the ANBU and their shadowy reputation. Now, though, she wasn't so sure – maybe he meant something more, something different? If he'd meant life as an analyst, then she could not possibly comply. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the work – it was stimulating and interesting as all hell, but she'd come too far as a ninja, working to fight on the front lines only to end up working primarily behind a desk. Besides, Team 7 was an assault team, and she had every intention of them coming together again and fighting as a team.

Shimura-sama's meaning probably wasn't anything so direct as Ocelot's subversive fighting either, though perhaps the thoughts were similar in spirit. Given the work she'd been doing, though, Sakura had learned that despite being a cut above in terms of intelligence, the way she had been thinking was too linear – too often she had seen things and accepted them without any critical thought. With the mounds of work she'd been doing as of late, however, it was clear that nothing was ever so black and white – rarely ever was a glaring problem the most prominent one; often, it was the overlooked facets where the best solution lied.

She broke out her reflection and put is aside when she returned to her office. After taking a brief glance at her order to see what mentor she'd be meeting with, the kunoichi went back to sifting through the remainder of her files. The extra time allotted due to cutting her mentor meetings to one a day was a change that Sakura thoroughly enjoyed. She'd often found that she didn't have enough time to properly write anything up, with the meetings interrupting her whenever she had truly gotten into a flow. This time, she hadn't been writing anything up, but the kunoichi had been able to properly reorganize her files as needed, complete with a file system detailing what reports were where based on what subject, along with a rough outline that detailed how she was going to go about using the new system when she returned from her training session.

* * *

"Five weeks?" asked the masked operative.

Sakura nodded in affirmation. Staying in line with protocol, neither of them had mentioned what would happen the week after her evaluations – the reason they were being taken in the first place. The fact was there, nonetheless, and their stiffer than normal interaction spoke where their voices did not. Ocelot's behavior was a strange thing now. It was as if seeing Sakura in the meeting had legitimized the younger kunoichi in some way, whether it was simply because she was acting only as an analyst or because she was actually being used for a serious mission. Either way, the ANBU operative hadn't greeted her with the same amount of vitriol that she normally did. Sakura was hopeful that her changed behavior was a sign of newfound respect rather than simple dismissal – she'd taken Ocelot's continued devotion to training as a sign that it was the former.

"Genjutsu or thread control?" came the crisp question.

Out of the two, genjutsu was the one she had less practice in as of late, and the pinkette especially wanted to add a few techniques concerning the art before evaluation and her subsequent field work. She justified the urge by rationalizing that since she already knew how to manifest and use threads, she'd be able to practice their usage in downtime. "Genjutsu for two weeks and then threads for two? Then the last week can focus on more wholesome usage, maybe?"

"Reasonable. But your abilities still aren't up to par for the genjutsu constrictions I intend to teach you," said Ocelot. The hint of condescension was still there, but it was a muted thing. Sakura imagined that was just part of her default personality – she wondered what the operative's voice would sound like without that particular tone. The kunoichi would probably sound like another person entirely. "So for the first week, we'll continue to work on –"

"Kai!"

"Slow," came Ocelot's drawl. And there it was – that condescension – of course the muting of it had been part of an illusion; she should've known immediately.

"How?" asked Sakura. She clarified, "Most genjutsu don't fabricate a beginning like that – they just place you in a situation like in the beginning of a dream. The one you use synthesizes memory to go along with the situation."

"Most genjutsu that latch on with this much power don't bother with subtlety. For example, the Yūhi family often incorporate elements of some kind of vegetation in their genjutsu techniques, usually in a fantastical way. Other genjutusu that maintain more mundane illusions don't immerse one in a construct so much as deceive perception," informed Ocelot. "This particular genjutsu incorporates both – using the latter to set up the former. You already know that it lets the target fill in most of the details, with the user dictating the overall _tone_ of the construction. So it's less that the memory is a construct, or rather, it's a construct of your own mind."

"Yes, but genjutsu itself takes advantage of a target's senses – manipulation of sensory input in such a way that the user's chakra can shift the victim's chakra system so that it roots itself to the false sensations, creating a loop that feeds back on itself, locking the victim in the construct," she answered in full. "But memory isn't sense, per se."

"If you already understand that genjutsu targets both chakra and input systems, then it shouldn't be any great leap for you to understand that if someone presses just right and pushes enough power into a design, a victim's mind can be affected as well," purred the ANBU kunoichi. "That if you seize the senses with enough vigor and snare your target's chakra in all the right places, you can make a person's mind dance as easily as Suna nin might a puppet wired with chakra threads."

The concept was already fascinating as it was, but the way Ocelot was speaking was enthralling. She spoke with infectious emotion, a mesmerizing cadence that Sakura's desire to learn more grew into a hunger that demanded the secrets behind the technique. _'A genjutsu that can influence thought through other means than senses? That's incredible. Sure, it's not mind control or anything, but…'_

"That reminds me," she began, "Can genjutsu affect the sensing of one's own chakra?"

"You should know, shouldn't you? You've been under my genjutsu while using your chakra."

"Well, I'd say it'd felt normal, but when I was using chakra threa—" she stopped short, a thought occurring to her. If genjutsu tied senses and chakra into a loop, it meant that anything filtered through traditional input would be muddled in terms of her sensing her chakra.

 _'And if that's true…it wasn't my senses with the thread that were muddled. It just tipped me off that the rest were out of line,'_ mused the kunoichi to herself. Any threads she had were outside of her system, and genjutsu didn't affect chakra itself – it just aligned the system with faculties in a faulty way, and since genjutsu only affect the user, the threads were out of play, unable to be targeted because of that.

"Okay," she said. "Could you put me under again? I want to try something."

The figure opposite of her remained stock still and silent, as if she didn't hear Sakura's request. An uneasy feeling crept up on her, and Sakura pushed chakra through her fingertips and manifested threads. The stark contrast between the sensation with the thread versus that of her normal senses was immediately apparent. Focusing on the thread and trying to attune her senses to that feeling, she flushed her system with chakra.

"Kai!"

When she opened her eyes again, Ocelot was still staring back at her. It was a bit off-putting because she was still unsure about whether or not the genjutsu had been broken. Carefully, she tested the threads and found that the feeling of them aligned with the rest of her system and breathed a sigh of relief.

Across from her, Ocelot snorted, though whether it was derisive or in amusement, Sakura couldn't tell.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hey look, I'm actuallycapable of updating in a reasonable amount of time!**

 **Anyway, should this continue for another week, I think I'll formally declare a weekly update schedule. I think As always, please feel free to comment, whether to critique, offer opinions, or correct any typos I missed. Also, thanks to everyone who has left a review (constructive or not) so far and for everyone whose kept up with the fic despite the irregular schedule!** **Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	6. Into the Shadows 1:6

"Five weeks?" asked the trench coat clad kunoichi incredulously. "How am I supposed to make you glorified _fucking ANBU_ material? You're still a genin! What are those idiots thinking? I'm good, but I ain't that good! I'm not cut out for this training crap."

Sakura sighed. For about the first ten minutes of her tirade, Sakura had felt embarrassed; now she was frustrated. Yes, she was genin. Yes, she probably wasn't ANBU material right now. But she was not a lost cause – even Ocelot hadn't made this big of a deal about this. "Mitarashi-san, could you at least stop shouting about me being involved with ANBU?"

"We're far enough away that no one can hear us, kid," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose. After melodramatic sigh, she raised up her head again. "Alright, we're bumping up your schedule."

The pinkette waited patiently as Anko pulled out a scroll and unfurled it in between the two of them. It was a bit different than other scrolls she'd seen – it seemed to be made of the same kind of material that some of the scrolls in the library that weren't permitted to be taken out due to age. But this one didn't' seem to be deteriorating; it was adorned with designs down each side, and the rollers used were quite ornate as well. On it, there were a list of signatures next to fingertips, all of which were color of dried blood.

"Okay, brat, listen up. _This_ is a summoning contract, and it's what you're going to sign," said Anko, who made some hand signs and placed her hand on the ground, "after we have a chat with someone."

A cloud of smoke appeared, and Sakura found herself staring at enormous, blue scales. Craning her head upward, the pinkette found herself staring at a monolithic snake, the size of several buildings. Its yellow eyes stared down at her, and its slit-like pupils pinned her down menacingly. The only thing that restrained the young kunoichi's urge to flee was Anko Mitarashi, who stood upon the snake's snout. Sakura backed up a few feet anyway.

When Anko jumped down, the big snake opened its mouth and spoke so softly it almost sounded like it was sighing the words. "What is it you wish, Broken One?"

"Cut the crap, Mabu," hissed Anko, whose face was distorted in annoyance. "We already went over this. Check the kid out."

Sakura's body reverberated when the big summon let out a snort. "How can you be sure you've sharpened the little one's fangs properly in your state?"

 _'What?'_ wondered the pinkette. _'What about her is broken?'_

"Because it wasn't just – this one's been a group effort," said the older kunoichi through bared teeth. "And I do just fine."

Mabu stared at them for a little while longer before he raised his large head up and craned his neck so that he still had Sakura and Anko in his vision. It was always a strange experience to be with a summon. Sakura didn't know if it was just her, but something about their presence just _felt_ different. Granted, she'd only been around a few. The pinkette absently wondered about why Kakashi's ninken didn't grow as large as other summons seemed to while she waited to see why Anko had summoned Mabu.

Her body tensed when the snake flicked its forked tongue toward her. It was only close to her for a moment, but her hand reflectively went to one of the kunai she had strapped on her person. An ominous hissed filled Sakura's ears as it emitted from the gargantuan summon. Her fingers twitched the few remaining centimeters to the handle of her weapon, and she drew in front of her defensively. She wasn't exactly sure how she combat a snake this huge, but she wasn't going to be defenseless if she had to.

Anko's hand flew out in front of her. "Put it away, Sakura. Mabu's bigger than the other summons I've brought out before, but he's my personal summon. He won't hurt you."

Sakura locked her gaze with the towering snake for a second longer and then relented at Anko's request. She calmed her breathing and tried to remind herself that this was a _summon_ , not a wild animal. And while Sakura knew that personal summons varied in temperament, most were fiercely loyal to their summoner – if Mabu was this big, that surely meant that he had been Anko's summon for a long while so the older kunoichi's judgment should be solid.

The snake spoke again, its soft voice still a surprise to the pinkette. "This one has some promise. But her fear is that of a prey animal, not the focus of a predator."

"Whatever, Mabu, is she fit to withstand it or not?" inquired Anko impatiently.

"Her chakra levels are," said the snake, pausing to find the word, "meager, but it seems you've acquainted her chakra itself with venom well enough. Are you sure that she has the temperament? She seems – skittish."

Anko, who had already turned her attention to the contract at the point, hummed a short, "Hm?"

"Her mindset matters, Anko," sighed the snake. "Should she pair with—"

"What the hell are you mumbling about?" snapped the tokubetsu jōnin. "Why are you still here?"

The snake coiled up and propped its head upon itself, obviously not bothered by Anko's abrasiveness. "I shall remain, I think, for the duration of this lesson."

Anko scowled, further piquing Sakura's curiosity, but she decided that it was best not to pry – at least in front of Mabu. Either way, it seemed as if there would be no time for questions, as Anko was pointing to the scroll and looking at her expectantly.

"Alright, brat!" exclaimed the grinning the older kunoichi. "You ready to summon one of those bastards that've been sinking their fangs in you for that past few months?"

Sakura gave the other woman a wry look. Still, it _was_ nice to be moving onto phase two of this little program; the tedium of being envenomated multiple times a week had rapidly set in and eaten away at her patience. And that was on top of the mithridatism she was conducting herself with the syringe set and venom vials that Anko had given her. "Yes, Anko-san."

The older kunoichi looked put off at the pinkette's lack of enthusiasm, but she didn't comment. Instead, she jerked a thumb in the direction of the summoning contract. "Alright, kid, you've seen me summon plenty of times so you should have the hand seals down by now. Yeah?"

When Sakura nodded in affirmation, the tokubetsu jōnin continued, "Alright, open yourself up with a kunai and use your blood to sign and put your fingerprints down. After that, you just need to run through the seals. Questions?"

Sakura opened her mouth to respond, but Anko didn't give her the opportunity.

"No questions? Good. Get started," demanded the older kunoichi as she walked over to her own summon and propped herself up on his bottom-most coil.

The pinkette shot the older woman a dirty a dirty look and pulled out the kunai she'd taken out earlier. She dragged the weapon's edge against her palm, making a shallow cut. After she put the blade away, she carefully signed her name, taking care to make it as legible as possible – she didn't know if legibility mattered for the act, but at the very least if her name were going to be recorded on it for years to come, at least it would look nice. When she was satisfied with her signature, she wet the fingertips of her hand with the blood and pressed them into the scroll's parchment. The young kunoichi shiftily shot a glance over to Anko to get some kind of affirmation that she did everything properly only to find her mentor seemingly in conversation with Mabu.

Rolling her eyes at Anko's inattentive behavior, Sakura paused before beginning on the last step, conflicted over how much chakra she should use. No doubt, using a large amount would summon a powerful snake, but she didn't want to summon anything she couldn't control. On the other hand, she knew that many shinobi who could summon often had a personal or a go-to summon, and she didn't want to get stuck with a weaker one if the first summon you brought out was the one who became your personal summon. Of course, the pinkette knew that a given ninja could summon any number of members of the line they contracted with, but the specifics of those arrangements eluded her – arrangements that a certain _someone_ had done nothing to illuminate.

 _'Damn that psychotic, careless woman. It's a wonder she hasn't gotten me killed yet,'_ thought Sakura, shooting a dirty look at the other kunoichi. She paused to reconsider. ' _Don't count the possibility out yet, Haruno.'_

In the end, she elected to go with a large amount of chakra. She doubted she'd be able to summon a snake as big as someone with a jōnin's chakra pool, and Anko and Mabu were both there if she summoned anything too large or surly to handle. Should that fall through and she get eaten by her own summon, at least she'd be able to get one over on Anko before she went out. That is, unless the tokubetsu jōnin actually did take some sort of perverse pleasure in the death of her charges.

Decision made, Sakura went through the series of hand seals she'd seen Anko perform dozens of times throughout the past few months. Pushing chakra through and out of her system in accordance with the hand signs, the pinkette placed her hand on the ground. Around her chosen spot on the ground, there was an appearance of an ornate seal followed by the sudden draining of Sakura's chakra. The rapid rate at which it dropped sent her into a mild panic, and she immediately stemmed the flow.

A cloud of smoke rose from the ground and engulfed her person. When it cleared, she spied a snake in a loose coil, with its head resting. She was a bit upset with the size – while it wasn't as small the normal ones Anko summon to have bite her, it was no where near the monstrous Mabu. Instead, it was roughly as large around as two of her thighs, though its length was harder to make out because of the coil. It was of an odd coloration and pattern, much different than any she had seen Anko summon. The summon was mostly black, though it had white patches, making it reminiscent of the pattern that was unique to Kiri if it were inverted.

Anko seemed to take note of her success and hopped down off of Mabu to come and further inspect. As for Sakura, the pinkette wasn't quite sure how she wanted to proceed – she hadn't really known what to expect, but she had expected _some_ kind of response form her summon. The snake, however, apparently had other plans; its beady, black eyes didn't even so much as twitch in her direction. It wouldn't be a hard thing to tap it with her foot, but she didn't' want to provoke it unnecessarily. Besides, she'd hate to be rude or do anything that was untoward in terms of snake etiquette. Damn Anko a thousand times for not preparing her better for any of this.

"Hey, not bad, brat!" congratulated the tokubetsu jōnin in question as she roughly clapped the younger kunoichi's shoulder. "Any particular reason you didn't call up a bigger one? With your control, you should be able to bring out something even larger than this."

"The way it drained my chakra at the end - was it supposed to do that? I didn't want it to wipe out my reserves."

"Hm? Didn't you read the scroll I gave you on summoning?"

Sakura gave Anko a blank stare. A number of weeks ago, the tokubetsu jōnin had given her some more of Orochimaru's writings, and she'd gone through all of them. Nothing in them had mentioned anything about summoning, though. "All the ones you gave me were either on chakra venom or his theories on innate chakra nature affinity."

"Huh," uttered the other kunoichi, face screwing up in thought before she shrugged. "Oh, well. Space-time ninjutsu works a little different than average ninjutsu. Summoning techniques in general have their own mechanism – the hand signs just open the gate and call up the seal on the ground while your hand placement fuels the summoning. Don't do the seals as well, your gate can't support anything too impressive, or at the very least you'd need an absolutely massive chakra pool to."

 _'That would've been helpful a few minutes ago,'_ Sakura thought grumpily. It was helpful information though, and it explained a lot about how the whole process worked. "Can I have a look at that scroll, anyway?"

"Sure, whatever," said Anko as she waved her off. She took a few steps over and nudged Sakura's summon none too gently with her foot. Huffing in irritation, she opened her mouth and yelled, "Wake up, you lazy bastard!"

The two-toned snake stirred, and lazily lifted its head a few centimeters to stare at the abrasive kunoichi before it turned its head to Sakura.

"Can you speak?" asked the pinkette. She hadn't really thought about this part; she'd expected some wrangle for control, not a chat with a passive summon.

When the snake didn't respond, Anko did. "Most snakes don't speak the human language; a lot them think it's beneath them. Though with a lazy bastard like that, I don't know if he could ever be bothered to learn."

"But they _can_ learn how to speak our language, then?"

"Sure. Mabu couldn't when I first summoned him."

Sakura turned her attention back to the snake when it started to crane its head toward her and raise itself toward her. It slithered behind her, and she realized that the summon was winding itself around her. It eventually came to a stop once it was in front of her, its face only a few inches from hers. The pinkette couldn't' help but feel that it was staring at her expectantly.

"Hold out your free hand, Sakura," said Anko. "Your first summon bites you, marks you to solidify the contract. That's why we've been working on that over the past few weeks."

She briefly wondered about how this would've worked if a bigger snake had been summoned, but Sakura did as her mentor asked and held up her right hand so that it was level with the snake's head. For a few seconds, they both were there side by side, but in the next instant, the snake lunged so quickly that the young kunoichi hadn't realized it had even moved until the flashes of white that were its fangs were already poised for strike.

The sharp pain that registered in the next second was so familiar to Sakura after weeks of dealing with snake bites that she didn't flinch. The rush of venom that coursed through her, lighting her insides on fire was equally as familiar. In the background, she heard Anko give the order not to actively fight the venom, to let it pass through by itself.

A month into the exercises, it was already apparent to Sakura that her chakra system was adapting to the venom at a much faster rate than her physiology had to the normal venom – it struggled to find a foothold and the side effects were dulled when weaker venom was applied. The rapidness with which her chakra system had learned to fight the venom had surprised her, though the pinkette did wonder if perhaps it was simply her own prowess concerning ridding herself of it that had increased more than any conditioned resistance that had developed.

The snake that she had summoned loosened itself from her, remaining wound in a loose coil around her feet. Beside her, Sakura heard Anko instruct her to sit and wait it out. She complied with the order and sat down right in the middle of the snake's coil. The venom was muddling her thoughts somewhat, and it was hard not to combat it on reflex – the kuniochi hated how she felt when under her mind was under the effects of venom. There was little choice but to wait it out, however, unless she wanted to go through the process all over again.

The only good thing about having an altered state of mind and perception was that time was a far off thing that only drifted in and out of notice. It was true that sometimes a second stretched into hours, but after that hours-long second, time was suddenly forgotten, a thing of no consequence. Besides, it was just as often that hours seemed like seconds. So, fortunately, it didn't seem like it was overlong until she was fully cognizant again.

When she came to, it was dark, and she was surprised to see that the splotchy snake was curled around her with its head in her lap. There was a small fire and across from her sat Mitarashi Anko, who was leaned up against Mabu and had her eyes sharply set on Sakura.

"Back with us, kid?" asked the tokubetsu jōnin, with her eyes still sharper than Sakura had ever seen them.

"Yeah," replied the pinkette, as she stretched out her jaw. "I'm all back now."

"Good. That was boring as all hell," complained the other kunoichi, whose former seriousness had melted away.

"So since he can't talk, how will communication work?" asked the pinkette. "I know that even shinobi can't talk in combat all the time, but at least they'd know the situation. Summons won't have that kind of advantage."

Anko shrugged her shoulders. "Summon lines have their own training so they can take care of themselves. Just don't call them into the middle of an attack – unless they can take it, anyway."

"So there's really no way to drop them in with any preparation?"

The older kunoichi relented. "Well, there are some techniques that can, but they're usually not long terms summons—those are more like regular space-time ninjutsu because there's no physical seal that appears when you do the signs."

"How would incorporating a command immediately upon summoning work?" Sakura asked.

Instead of answering, the tokubetsu jōnin stood up and performed a series of hand seals before thrusting out her arm to the side. A nest of six snakes, each the size of the one Sakura summoned, sprang out of Anko's jacket sleeve and shot to a tree at the edge of the clearing, biting, constricting around, and hissing at it.

Anko dispelled the technique and walked closer to Sakura and took a seat beside her. When she sat, she explained, "That was one of the ones I'll teach you over the next few weeks. It works on the principle of priming your summon with intent using certain hand signs before the summoning."

Sakura nodded. "So when you summoned multiple snakes just now did you just open up multiple gates or did you just split the chakra flow that spread out to one gate?"

Sakura waited patiently as the older kunoichi laughed long and loud at what she had thought was a reasonable question. "Already moving on to a multiple summon, huh, kid?"

Sakura reddened at the tokubetsu jōnin's amusement. "I—If it's really that complicated, I can wait."

"Nah, it's okay," assured Anko with a big grin. "But it's a little late to start on a new technique now, ain't it?"

Sakura blinked, realizing again how late it was again and swore. This little excursion had cost her precious time, considering she was on a timeline for that report she had to write up for the cadre. She sighed, loathing the idea of another sleepless night. If she didn't get a handle on her schedule she'd be useless in general and in terms of her report. "Right. I'd better get back to my office."

Anko grimaced at what Sakura assumed to the thought of working in an office, though she didn't comment on it. "Sure, sure. Just dispel him first. A simple release command should do it. Next we'll get started on some of the specifics of working with the snakes – what they can and can't do and how to coordinate with them on missions. I'll bring that scroll since I know you like reading them so much."

Sakura didn't have time to address Anko's ribbing about her interest in theory or the smug smirk the woman wore on her face. Instead, she turned the snake and released her chakra. The summon disappeared into a cloud the same time Mabu was lost in a giant wall of smoke. The young kunoichi turned to leave, her mind already on critical areas off the coast of the Land of Water. _'For the most part, the southeastern-most islands off mainland Mizu are all newer territory that have been won in conflicts, so Terumī has an advantage with those relations because of her lineage… But if they decide to take up on those counter offers the remnant faction has been making or if any of the advocates for neutrality come out ahead—'_

Sakura was broken out of her reflection on the matter when she was yanked back by the shoulder. The pinkette glanced back to Anko, whose hand was firmly clasped onto her. "Anko-san?"

"C'mon kid," said the tokubetsu jōnin, throwing her arm around Sakura's other shoulder. "Let's go to town and get some dango."

The request struck Sakura as a bit odd. To be honest, Anko didn't necessarily seem like someone she'd want to spend her down time with, considering the older kunoichi's proclivity for ignoring social etiquette. "Er—thanks for the offer, but I really have to –"

"Look, kid, I know you're with ANBU and everything, but I'm still a jōnin, so I can still kick your ass," growled the other kunoichi. "Now. We're going to go get some dango and have a nice chat."

An "um" followed by a mumbled "okay" was all that Sakura could manage, so a small while later she found herself back in Konoha and seated on the Hokage Monument, staring down at the moonlit ninja village while she munched on dango. The pinkette had hopes that the little shop would have been closed by the time they got back, but not only did they happily greet Mitarashi, they had apparently stayed open just because she hadn't stopped by yet.

"Ah!" exclaimed the tokubetsu jōnin who was seated next to her. "They make some damn good dango, right?"

Sakura ignored the question. "Um, Anko-san. Why are we here?"

Her companion heaved a put-upon sigh. "You know, it ain't healthy to go so long without a break now and then, brat. When's the last time you just went out to the town and gotten something to eat? Actually gotten something to eat, not just picked up groceries to eat at whatever office you're working in."

"Not for a few months," admitted the younger kunoichi. "I appreciate you looking out for me, but I have really important work to do, now more than ever. I can't just take a break right now if I expect to move up."

"Look, I know people who think like that, and I've seen them break down when too much shit piles up – and it _always does_ ," said Anko. She sighed and looked away form Sakura, staring out at the town. "You know what this is about, right?"

"The stress?"

"No!" she snapped. "The training. With me, I mean. The reason why they're training you to do all this - why they're having me teach you about all of _his_ techniques?"

Sakura _had_ thought about it. Her arrangement with Ocelot made sense – the icy operative's style seem suited to Sakura, over the months she'd found that the areas in which Ocelot seemed to excel synced up with Sakura's own natural strengths. For a time, she'd thought that perhaps the higher ups had assigned Anko to her in order to take advantage of her degree of chakra control and teach her how to resist chakra venom. _'But if they're teaching me how to resist it…'_

"Are they," she asked uncertainly. "Are they going to send me after Orochimaru?"

Anko scoffed. "C'mon, kid, _think_. That bastard is one of the Sannin; they're not training a _genin_ to assassinate him."

It took the pinkette longer than it should have to reach the conclusion of Anko's implication. When she finally did, a painful lump formed in her throat and her heart raced as it pumped chilled blood through her veins. She swallowed before she respond. "Sasuke. They're training me to kill Sasuke-kun?"

"Look, I ain't really involved in any decision-making. I just do the jobs the village assigns me. I'm not saying they're gearing you up to kill your teammate," said the older kunoichi as she shrugged. She looked back at Sakura with a unreadable expression on her face. "If you had to, could you? Could you kill him?"

Sakura swallowed again under the scrutiny of the other woman. "I—Sasuke-kun hasn't doesn't anything to harm the Konoha, right? He's with Orochimaru, but he hasn't actually attacked anyone. Well, I mean, he fought with Naruto, but they fight all the time – that's just how they are!"

"And if he does attack the village? Orochimaru's already attacked Konoha once, and now your teammate is with him."

When Sakura remained silent, Anko spoke again. "I'm not saying that you'll have to fight him, but you need to starting thinking about it. And you need to take some time to think about something other than this job"

Sakura wasn't sure that she wanted to take time away from her job, considering what Anko had just dropped on her. She'd been considerably less stressed before she considered the possibility that she might have to kill Sasuke. "How is taking a break supposed to help me process this? You just told me I might be ordered to kill my teammate!"

"Your _former_ teammate is a _traitor_ " snarled the tokubetsu jōnin, her words as venomous as what the snakes had been injecting in Sakura's veins. "just like my _former_ sensei! He chose to leave, and you chose to stay. That means you're on different sides of the line now – you have to put the good of Konoha first – it's your duty as a shinobi to put the village first!"

"Team Seven doesn't abandon their comrades," she said in quiet defiance.

"Even when they abandon you?" the older kunoichi fired back. She pinched the bridge of her nose out of frustration and exhaled in slow deliberation. "I didn't come here to argue about the Uchiha boy – for all I know, the village won't even order his assassination since he's the only one of his family his brother left alive.

I just want you to be ready, Sakura. To have your eyes open about what's expected of you and to know what's going on in your own head and with your own health. I—I had to deal with this too, kinda, when he left. I just thought—look, just don't be a fucking head case! Alright, kid?"

The two stared at each other for a long while after the outburst. It slowly dawned on Sakura that Anko was doing and saying all of this because the older kunoichi cared about her. Not just her work or capacity to do her job, but the other woman cared about her well-being. It had been a while since anyone had checked up on her like that. Naruto did in his own way, but letters only went so far; Ino had tried a few months ago and her time spent with the girl had been nice, but they hadn't had a heart-to-heart – they couldn't have with Sakura working with the ANBU. But Anko – she knew at least some of Sakura's situation, and she was here, trying to make sure that she'd hold together.

The pinkette had an urge to hug the other kunoichi, but Sakura held back. The young kunoichi wasn't sure if it'd be appropriate, and she didn't want to seem even more childish than she was sure she already appeared to the tokubetsu jōnin. Instead, she awkwardly reached out a hand and placed it on her mentor's shoulder and gripped it tightly, steeling her voice so that it wouldn't quiver.

"Thank you for looking out for me, Anko," she said softly. She loosened her grip and let the hand fall. "How did you handle it? After he left, I mean."

Anko closed her eyes. "I didn't really remember much when he left. Until a few months ago, I actually thought that he just abandoned me. I guess I was one who left him when he decided to leave Konoha. It was tough, especially when I thought that he had just abandoned me. Sometimes I felt like garbage that he had just left behind. Then I felt like garbage because there was a part of me that wished he had taken me with him. I, uh, I guess kind of just focused on how angry I was at him instead."

Sakura nodded along, personally she couldn't identify with wishing to be taken along with Sasuke away from Konoha – she had wished Sasuke-kun had talked to her about it or maybe _asked_ her to go, but she had no desire to defect to Orochimaru's Sound. But she did understand about the conflict – the feeling that it was wrong to still care about someone the rest of the village saw as traitor. "How did the rest of your team deal with it? Did you all stay together?"

"I—" began the other kunoichi, "I didn't really plan to talk about them. I, maybe—"

"Later. Maybe we can talk about it later," said Sakura. The young kunoichi certainly understood the lack of desire to talk about that sort of thing; it was best not to push Anko if she didn't want to talk about it. "You don't have to talk about it right now."

And she didn't. Neither of them did. Instead, the pair of kunoichi just sat in the dark atop the Hokage Monument, neither one saying anything for a long time.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Well, I've done well the past three weeks in terms of updating so I'm going to go ahead and tell everyone to expect an update every weekend until further notice. Hopefully I'll be able to continue to stick with that schedule. Should that change, whether on a temporary or permanent basis, I'll do my best to let you know. For anyone tiring of the episodic formula this seems to be falling into, fear not, for this arc is about to come to a close within the next few chapters, and then we'll follow Sakura in Mizu.**

 **This chapter's been a difficult one for a few reasons - I wasn't sure how I wanted to engineer Sakura's interactions with the snakes or how the interaction between Anko and Sakura should go.. It gave me so much trouble that I actually pushed it back a few chapters from when it was initially supposed to appear. Something else that was cut was a dimension of summoning - I originally had the snakes and the summoner having a very rudimentary sort of telepathy or a mild sensorial or empathic link, but I decided that that was taking a little more liberty than I'd like for something already showcased in canon (of course that's not to say I won't be bending canon at some other juncture). Anyway, still not completely happy with this chapter, but I accomplished what I needed to in terms of setting up certain devices.**

 **Also, at this time, I'd like to extend credit to xShadowRebirthx on DeviantArt, who has given blanket permission for anyone to use their map of Naruto's Elemental Nations, so long as proper credit is due. I will be making use of this generous offer for my fic as a point of reference when writing.**

 **As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to leave a review with any comment, question, or critique (even if it's just a typo I missed).**

 **Suzulu4moe: Sorry for the late response. I picked Ino because it's stated in the anime that she started training alongside Sakura, though she wasn't exactly Tsunade's apprentice in the same capacity. I'll be cribbing from the anime/games by preference because while I like some elements, some parts of them are a bit ridiculous. Thanks for your commentary thus far!**

 **imaginesakura: I'm glad you're enjoying those aspects of the story; I worry about being a little too dry with those facets of the fic. I actually have interludes planned in between each sub-arc. Kakashi's will be the second interlude after the first sub-arc of the Kiri arc, but unfortunately, if I stick to the current outline, Anko's won't be for while. It's a format I picked up from Wildbow's web fiction – I find it's a nice break from the central character and adds some more depth to the story in addition to dissolving monotony in general.**

 **r1ncewind1: Glad you like it so far. Danzō created Root pre-Uchiha massacre as a subsidiary of Konoha's ANBU. The Third eventually disbanded it and formally removed Danzō from the Council (per what I remember from the manga/anime and from the wiki). However, because it's seen in canon that he's still affiliated in some way with the Council and is operating Root illegally, I always interpreted it as Danzō still having influence over ANBU proper as well, official or not. Another reason I interpret it this way is because it is evident that Root operatives are deeply embedded within ANBU and since not all of them (such as Sai) were there before the official disbanding, that suggests a continued presence of Danzō in the current ANBU hierarchy, even though he is not, as you pointed out, the ANBU Commander. Keep in mind this is just my interpretation and how I will integrate it in this fic; I can see how others may have their own ideas about how canon operates. Either way, in Chapter 5, the ANBU Commander mentioned wouldn't be Danzō but rather a separate individual that was portrayed but never officially named – this character can be found on the wiki (though Hinoe and Hinoto will still definitely be reporting to Shimura as their primary superior).**


	7. Into the Shadows 1:7

"Given this, I advise partnering with Chūkichi's contingent in order to combat the insurgents under Kumo's Kinkaku Force. The primary reason for this is Chūkichi's history fighting against Kumo in the previous Shinobi World War – this will afford an advantage to the fighters dealing with the enemies in the region. The secondary reason is for Chūkichi's specialty, which is conducting ambushes during large conflicts."

The Kumo faction analyst wrapped up his brief and asked if any of the four across from him had any questions. The four, of course, were the two heads of the table and their flanking companions, who had each moved to one side of the table, with the three analysts sitting opposite of them. Meanwhile, to her left sat the Kiri analyst and two seats to the left sat the one-armed Kumo analyst.

When the cadre leader had gone through his spiel concerning the exact military positions, tactics, and composition of each of the three factions yet still hadn't prompted her for a brief, Sakura had been relieved – it'd seemed as if she was going to get a reprieve. It wasn't that her brief wasn't fully compiled or that it was particularly _bad_ , but the pinkette had been exhausted all week so another few days to polish her report would have been appreciated.

Unfortunately, after the leader was finished, he gave orders to the operatives to start training in tandem and work on simulations that would deal with the tactics of enemies they would face. Following that, the leader ordered the analysts to stay behind and give their briefs to him, his comrade, the spiky brown-haired ANBU, and Kakashi.

So, here she found herself, trying desperately prepare herself for the skewering she was surely about to go through. For good or bad, she was about to get a small taste of what that was going to be like – it seemed their leader did have questions for the Kumo faction analyst.

"You said that the best way to deal with the Kumo insurgents was to attack the northern islands in order to disrupt their centers of operations and prevent re-supply opportunities afforded to them by Kumo's access to the region via the Kaizoku Sea. This seems like a fairly simple approach. Why hasn't the remnant or the resistance acted on this?"

"The remnant has recently been coordinating with the insurgents against the resistance. This is likely due to Terumī's increasing encroachment on territory between Kirigakure and the capitol of Water Country. As for the resistance, it isn't clear as to whether or not Terumī is aware of Kumo's role within the northern insurgents. "

"And as for Kumo's presence in the region in general. You mentioned that the Land of Lightning was willing to risk tipping its hand concerning its presence in the area. Why? And if so, why haven't they moved more overtly?"

"Out of the Five, Kumo has the strongest economy," informed the one armed analyst. "This is, in part, due to the fact that Lightning Country has near unfettered access to the bodies of water around it – Gaikotsu Bay, Haran Bay, and the Kasumi Strait. The only one that is contested is Kaizoku Sea; however, given the current civil war in Mizu, Kumogakure has seen the opportunity to change the status quo.

As for why they haven't simply attempted an invasion, Kumo is likely worried about provoking both Earth Country and Fire Country against it. If only one of the nations were going rally, then Lightning would probably risk it, but the threat of two of the other Five is too much for them, and they know it."

"In the brief you said that two of Kumo's Kinkaku Force was spearheading the effort, leading other Kumo ANBU forces and training disparate peoples in the north" said the leader. "Given that the Kinkaku Force is involved even, in a limited capacity, it will be paramount that strikes be carried out with the utmost accuracy. Otherwise escalation may occur if they recognized Konoha forces. Do we have their exact locations?"

"Yes. One is heading up the overall operation from the northeastern island, maintaining the main supply line and directing the offensive. The other works on the northwestern island but frequently ventures onto the mainland in order to lead raids and train allies. I believe that one of them also personally makes contact with some of their moles within the top of the caste system who are still within the structure of the remnant faction. It will most likely be necessary to conduct intermittent raids after the initial strikes in order to keep forces from holing back up in the areas."

"You mentioned that the insurgents were able to rely not just on Kumo supplies but also trade with countries to Water Country's east. How would you characterize the relationship between the insurgent faction and those minor nations?"

"It's more a case of a relationship of Lightning Country's. Kaminari brokers the deals and then ships the supplies. The majority of this comes from Sky Country, which is closest to Lightning and furthest from Water. There are two nations south of Sky – Wolf and then further south, Honey Country. Wolf Country is more reluctant to participate in these dealings, though it won't outright refuse dealings with Lightning, lest it lose normal trade arrangements and anger the larger nation. There is no trade currently between Lightning and Honey, though if Lightning is successful in pressuring Wolf, it may decide to pursue an arrangement with the south-most country."

"Very well," said the leader of Calm Waters. "Next is the Kiri analyst. "

 _'Well, I guess that wasn't so bad,'_ thought Sakura. The questions the leader asked weren't overly confident, and it wasn't like he'd asked very many. So long as she could restrain her nerves when questioned, it wouldn't be a problem.

Either way, there was still another analyst to go before she would be put on the chopping block. Hopefully the Kiri analyst's brief would help give her another point of reference for when it was her turn.

When the remnant analyst spoke up, Sakura gauged that he was an older shinobi by his gruff voice.

"The position of the remnant faction is moderately stable – its economic position is secure, geography and climate are in its favor, and its military is stable.

Despite the issues with trading off of the coast, they still have a few key ports of their own and many of the mainland resources. More than that, they still have official endorsement of the daimyō of Water Country and a direct route to the capitol of their country – the other factions won't risk attacking that link out of fear of alienating the daimyō, which would give an excuse for other nations to intervene or invade due to a country's own shinobi attacking their own leader.

As for geography and climate, the remnant faction's main center of activities is based out of Kirigakure. Kiri is found within a mountainous region in the country – which makes it more easily defensible; furthermore, the remnant forces have all routes in and out of it secured. Current weather patterns suggest that positions such as the northern islands of Kiri are going to face heavy tropical storms that will compromise the areas – the remnant seems to be relying on this to blunt the Kumo faction, which may be why they are willing to coordinate with them against the resistance.

It is true that the remnant's military forces are pressed, but this situation is not without precedent for Kirigakure. Kiri's population isn't particularly homogenous in terms of dividing lines or unified in terms of clans – it conquered many of the islands near the mainland and even places on the mainland to build itself up as a nation and given the issues that Mizu has had with keikei genkai, rebellions have never been in short supply. While this conflict is on wider terms, Kiri is used to engaging in guerilla warfare; therefore, the situation is not as grim as it may first appear."

Given the issues concerning major sources coming from supply lines that were off limits due to the ties with the capitol, the Kiri analyst recommended taking the rest of the southwestern islands and raiding the coastline to take the ports in addition to taking covert actions to foster negative feelings between the remnant and the capitol – such as sabotage operations to create bad faith or essentially framing the remnant for crimes the daimyō would find unacceptable. For the undertakings, he recommended the forces under the command of Ao be taken used – the hunter nin would be able to move swiftly and silently enough to engage forces on the coastline as well as knowing how to run the covert operations in mind concerning muddying the remnant's reputation with Mizu's capitol.

The young kunoichi was surprised to find that the Kiri analyst had made a very similar recommendation to the one she would be giving in a few minutes. She was even more surprised to find that the Kiri analyst found that the remnant was stable. She would've likely estimated that it was mildly unstable, if she had been asked for her opinion. Then, given that this analyst had subject matter expertise concerning Kiri, so she supposed he would know better. Either way, her judgment on the matter of the remnant faction having been proven incorrect, the pinkette's feelings about her own brief weren't exactly warm anymore.

"As with the Kumo analyst, why hasn't the resistance already taken your advised action?" questioned their leader upon the Kiri analyst's conclusion.

"Terumī is likely overly optimistic about her situation and has therefore chosen to take the safe route and avoid any action that could upset the daimyō. As for the coastline, her optimism has similarly held her back - if she were to seriously disrupt trade there, it would damage her relations to both the native population and trade partners. So far, Terumī has taken care to avoid such effects, but her caution in this matter is ill-advised, lest the remnant just wait for her resistance to run out of steam."

"And you," said their leader, as he slowly turned his head to the Kumo analyst, "said that we needed to break up the Kumo insurgency in the northern islands. Why didn't you mention the weather?"

Sakura flushed under mask, embarrassed for the Kumo analyst and very uncomfortable just by being near the scrutiny of the masked ANBU leader. The weather was something she had failed to properly look into as well, apparently. She was beginning to get even more nervous about delivering her brief.

The Kumo analyst cleared his throat a bit. "I wasn't aware of that particular development."

The Kiri analyst came to his fellow's rescue. "It's not the regular weather pattern for this season, but there have been reports of a large storm in the Kaizoku Sea. Not only does the storm's path suggest it may be on a path to that region, but storms of that nature have a history of causing trouble in that area as well."

The leader gave an "mm" sound that doubled as an acknowledgment of the Kiri analyst and admonishment for his Kumo counterpart. "Now for the brief on the resistance."

Sakura fought the urge to react and tip her hand about being so nervous. All four of the people staring back at her from across the table were intimidating. Kakashi wasn't quite as bad as the others, but he was intimidating in an entirely different way – maybe because he was her sensei.

"Evidence suggests that the resistance faction is somewhat unstable. Although Terumī's faction has had some success, her operation will likely over-extend itself should the resistance continue to operate in the manner that it is. The geography and climate remain relatively irrelevant for the resistance – the problem lies with her economic capability and her military alliances.

The other main area of concern is the lack of proper maximization of economic ties. This is in part due to the fact that she can only bounce supplies through the southern islands and neighboring countries. The countries to the east are still in dialogue with the capitol, which is in the eastern mainland – Terumī is unable to disrupt this due to the aforementioned issues with showing hostility toward the daimyō, who has exclusive access to trade with those countries to the east.

This problem with trade is detrimental to the military ties within the resistance. Straining the resources of the alliances from those in the smaller islands takes away the incentive that Terumī's allies have to work with her. Rather than the problem concerning present resources, it's the temperament of allies in the face of bearing the brunt of keep the resistance supplied in addition to contributing fighters but most of all maintaining strongholds away from the touch of the other factions.

In light of this, the best course of action is to leverage political control and then supplement it with military action. I advise using Umeko and her forces to carry this out. While not an overarching strategy, the goal of this focuses on relieving tension in the ranks of Terumī. Earlier, the Kiri analyst suggested using covert action to win over the Water daimyō; what I suggest is making use of Umeko's political capital to win over the local figures. In essence, this will involve wooing the elites in the capitol with Umeko's military assets, which will be considerably easier, given the civil war and the many derelict stations and duties that shinobi have been in the wake of the conflict. Rather than simply winning over the daimyō, the main goal of this will to be create a movement in the top caste with Umeko spearheading it on the behalf of Terumī's resistance. While this may allow for the kind of long term goal the Kiri analyst mentioned concerning winning over the daimyō, the immediate short term goal will be to open up trade routes to alleviate those straining under pressure as well as giving the resistance more room. While not necessarily a key for overall victory, it will allow for the survival of the resistance.

Should this not be possible due to constraints in the mainland, where Terumī currently has Umeko's contingent holding ground, then an alternative would lie with using Katsurō's forces to bludgeon through and take the island east of the capitol. This would risk alienating those in the capitol, but rather than directly applying military leverage and risk pulling in other nations to the conflict, it would cut the capitol off from trade coming from Wolf and Honey. Katsurō's forces would be used here in order to prevent reputation damage – as he has no political capital to speak of, it will prevent other lieutenants from losing face when interfacing with those in the capitol."

By the time Sakura was finished, she would have killed someone for a cup of water – her throat and mouth were terribly parched. However, throughout the entirety of the briefing the pinkette's voice hadn't wavered once, and _that_ counted as a victory in her book. It wasn't over yet though – the battery of questions to be faced by the leader still remained. Hopefully she hadn't made a glaring error like the Kumo analyst had – that be an unfortunate black mark to have at the beginning of an operation.  
It seemed like an eternity before the leader of Calm Waters spoke. "I pose the same question to you as I did the other two: why hasn't this path been taken by Terumī already?"

"The reluctance to alienate the daimyō mentioned earlier is one reason. Katsurō, being more a charismatic leader than a brilliant tactician, normally isn't left to conduct delicate matters such as this and is usually assigned to areas in the southern regions. As for Umeko, a lot of her time is spent managing forces further north and negotiating with landowners and towns throughout the country. However, the main force has hit a snag and there is a stalemate at the moment in the center of the country between the three forces – I believe that even if it means the resistance needs to give back ground temporarily, this line of action would ultimately give the resistance a firmer foundation."

"You just said that Terumī may have to give ground for this. So why would the slower approach with Umeko be superior to using Katsurō, particularly if his forces are found further away from areas of direct conflict?"

Sakura paused, frantically grabbing at the knowledge she'd accrued. It was much harder now to find good answers to the questions now that she was the one being questioned. "Umeko's approach will allow for better relations, facilitating a better flow of supplies and support – in addition to making it easier to Terumī to officially claim the title of Mizukage, which is the end goal of our operation. Furthermore, Umeko's forces may not have to entirely quit their area of the field, given that elites in the capitol may want issues handled elsewhere in the region. In addition to this, Katsurō's forces would be there to shore up the resistance in meantime, and now that Umeko has negotiated with many of the key targets in the area already, there is less of a reason for her to be needed in that capacity."

When she finished her explanation, they sat in silence for a little while. It was all very stressful, and for a moment it seemed as if there had been some issue that the leader had with the report. Fortunately, when he eventually spoke up, he said, "Very well. We will take your recommendations into consideration. A few weeks from now, we will reconvene with a finalized planned and then issue you new orders before we leave to Mizu. Dismissed."

Sakura rose along with the other two analysts, giving a Kakashi a significant glance on the way out. It was nice to finally be leaving that room. Surprisingly, the first half, listening to the leader drone on about things she'd already researched while trying not to fall asleep without her now constant companion coffee was worse than the actual brief. In fact, it was a little disappointing, given the anticlimactic response on the part of those she delivered the brief to. Then again, may it did go badly, and she just didn't know.

Regardless, it was over now, and she was glad to be able to focus on simply passing her evaluations now. Over the week, she'd made some progress on that front, Ocelot had started her on the actually construction of the genjutsu she'd been practicing under for the past few weeks – hopefully she'd be deemed proficient enough in that one soon enough to learn one or two more before evaluation time. However, given that her only person to train the genjutsu on was Ocelot, it wasn't an easy thing to prove proficiency – most of the time acceptable grasp of a technique wasn't judged on whether or not you could successfully snare an ANBU operative in it. Occasionally, Sakura had the urge to try out her new trick on others from around the village, but if she were caught using it on another shinobi with their knowledge, she'd be in for serious repercussions. And if she tried it out on a civilian – well, playing with their civilians was frowned upon in Konoha. Since it wasn't anything too harmful, she'd likely not be severely reprimanded, but that wasn't exactly the kind of attention she'd want right before her evaluations.

As for her time spent with Anko, Sakura had been hard at work getting used to working the snakes. She'd discovered that it wasn't overly difficult to summon a large snake – it wasn't as big as Anko's, but given that as a tokubetsu jōnin, Anko would have a much larger chakra pool than she did, that wasn't surprising. Her mentor had also been sure to note that Mabu was her personal summon so things worked a little bit differently, though it still ate through a lot of chakra to summon him. Of course, the pinkette still couldn't be sure exactly how large of one she could really summon because pushing it too far risked sapping her chakra pool entirely.

The next meeting, they were going to start working on summoning two snakes at a time. So far they'd only been working on fighting in tandem with the snakes, focusing on both combat and communication. That was where most of the difficulty of the practice had been. Sakura could recognize _when_ to call on a summon and perform it reliably, but training herself to recognize the tactics and thought patterns of a snake and act in sync with it had proven difficult. Thus, Sakura had her first lesson as to why shinobi often had a personal summon.

Unfortunately for her, she may have made a slight error when choosing hers. The young kunoichi had elected to work with the two-toned snake that she'd first summoned. The thing was still making no effort to talk, though Mabu had informed her that it was called Sakishi. The main problem wasn't, however, Sakishi's silence, but rather the snake's propensity for lazing about instead of properly contributing.

Sakura's response was, of course, to annoy Sakishi into submission. So instead of giving the snake a reprieve when she didn't' train with Anko, she simply summoned it when she was in her room or working on the report. She'd had to file for a special permit to be able to summon inside the ANBU facility, but it had been well worth it to try and provoke the uncooperative, lethargic little bastard.

Right now, however, she had taken Anko's advice on a whim and was walking through the streets of Konoha. It wasn't because she had anything to do in particular, but perhaps Anko had been right when she said that it was safer for her headspace not to be stuck in such a rigid regiment all the time. So, the plan was to simply stroll around town, and maybe stop off and just relax somewhere.

To be honest, though, the other thing that Anko had wanted to talk about made it hard for her walk to be relaxing at all. The possibility that she may be ordered to kill Sasuke one day frightened her, but when she thought about the fact that she'd be ordered to assassinate a comrade at all spooked her too. It wasn't that she didn't understand what happened to missing nin – deserters were often executed because of treasonous behavior, but she just guessed she hadn't really ever branded Sasuke as a missing nin of Konoha.

 _'But that_ is _what he is now, isn't he? He's deserted the village, and willing to fight to do so. How couldn't you have seen that?'_

She berated herself for the naivety – that was the kind of thing that was holding her back from being the kind of kunoichi she wanted to be. She would have to learn to be sharper if she ever wanted to catch up to her teammates. _'What's the point of catching up if they're just goin to order me to kill him?'_

No, she couldn't get caught up in the hypothetical – Anko was probably right; she was most likely being trained to deal with him. The training that dealt so closely with Orochimaru's techniques, and her status as a former teammate made for ideal tools to be used against Sasuke-kun. But for now, she'd have to put the possible order out of her mind – until such a time that it was actually given, it was better to focus on the task at hand. Should luck go her way, she'd have the opportunity to act before Konoha ordered her to kill him or perhaps she could talk them into letting her capture him if she made enough progress with her training.

 _'I'll need do better than snakes and chakra threads to get him though,'_ she thought. Remembering him, it was hard to think that such a feat was reachable. Sasuke was already so advanced, knew so many techniques, and then there was his keikei genkai – even if she did improve, countering the Sharingan would be a daunting task. It was even further complicated by the fact that she was predisposed to using genjutsu, something that almost certainly couldn't find purchase against the dōjutsu. _'I'll just have to find a way to counter it. Figure out a way to set up the fight that makes it to where it's possible that only I will win. Maybe I should find Kakashi-sensei and ask for advice. Though he'd definitely ask questions then.'_

She shrugged the thoughts off, putting them aside for a moment. There would be plenty of time to contemplate that matter later, after she returned form the mission to Mizu. If she had any luck at all, she'd be able to learn plenty while she was there, even if they hadn't elected to make her a full operative for the mission.

Sakura's trek through the town came to an end at the top of one of the buildings in the center of town. The stars were easily seen, vast and twinkling against the opaque darkness. Despite the beauty and tranquility of it all, the pinkette found herself a little lonely. _'Maybe I should've found Anko? She was the one who wanted me to do this after all. Then again, perhaps I'm forced on her enough as it is – she could probably use a break from me as much as I sometimes need one from her. Ino, then? Maybe if I knew her schedule better. I should look into it before I leave.'_

It didn't occur to her until just then that she probably should've gone to see her parents. No doubt, they'd been worried about her and should probably know that she would be out of the village for the foreseeable future. Both her mother and father had served as genin, never progressing far along in the scheme of things. It was just as well, really; it wasn't too long ago that all of those in her family were merchants, and both of her parents were given frequent reprieves of service to tend to their business. Sakura, however, had her eyes set on more than that. Her parents flopped between expecting her to excel as a ninja and being worried for her safety. It made for quite a many confused conversations, and she couldn't tell if they were pleased that she was advancing well in her career as a kunoichi or if they were disappointed that she would not be able to help the continuance of their business. Then again, it was understandable, given that her success or failure would likely mark the direction of her family take.

 _'Evidently, I shouldn't come out alone to relax, if all I end up doing is brooding about my life,'_ thought the young kunoichi bitterly. She spied the handful of people on the streets below – either shopkeepers hurrying home after a long day or children running around, no doubt more than half of them out past their curfew. The notion to try out her genjutsu on one of them crossed her mind – nothing serious perhaps a scolding older sibling or schoolteacher telling them to get home. Unfortunately, she also spied a couple of chūnin who were on the street, who were not doubt keeping watch over what was one of the busiest streets in Konoha. She was actually a little surprised that she didn't see any jōnin or ANBU on the rooftops within her line of sight – then again, just because she could not see them that did not mean that they were not there keeping a watchful eye.

She stayed there on the rooftop until all of them left, save for one of the chūnin below. She had hoped that the one left would be someone that she knew, but when she'd had a better look at the figure, it was evident that he had probably been a chūnin for sometime – someone older than her who was likely bound to stay at the position for life. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but it was clear that the shinobi was a peer she would know, much less one of the Rookie Nine or Team Guy.

Given those circumstances, she left her position on the roof and made her way to the compound. She took her time on the trip, even going the long way, if only to enjoy the stillness of her city in the dead of night. It was when she heard muffled sobs and consoling whispers from around a corner that she stopped.

It was hard to tell from the brokenness of the one sobbing, but through the hiccups, Sakura eventually made out that Ino was the one who was crying. The hushed consolation that was offered to the broken down kunoichi was made by Shizune, the Hokage's aide and elder apprentice. From what she could hear, Ino had been observing an ill-fated surgery, and now that the shinobi had been lost, Shizune was offering some comfort to the Yamanaka girl.

It was an alien thing, to hear Ino cry – she'd always pictured her as indomitable, even after she had proven the clan heiress's equal in the Exams. The pinkette was unsure as to whether or not she should go to help and console her friend. If it were her crying, Ino would almost certainly have gone – the blonde always seemed to know exactly what to say to those around her, able to articulate in such a way that cut through all awkwardness or misplaced heavy-handedness. Sakura, on the other hand, was never gifted with that kind of social grace so perhaps it was best to leave it up to Shizune.

In the end, after much deliberation, she decided to make her way over to the pair. Neither of them addressed her as she approached, but Shizune did offer a thankful glance. Instead of speaking, the pinkette simply put an arm over Ino and sat for a while with the other two. After a while, Shizune suggested that Sakura walk Ino home, so the two headed in the direction of the heiress's home.

The blonde was silent for their entire journey, but once they arrived outside the Yamanaka home, the pair came to a stop, and Ino spoke.

"I couldn't do anything, Sakura," she whispered in a low voice.

Sakura stifled a nervous sigh. "You were just there to observe though, right?"

"It's not just that. I'm always able to figure out some way to get a handle on a situation – I've been trained to do that since I was so young that it's just natural by now," she said, in a dead voice. "I know I was just there to observe and that with just the training I've had, I would've probably done more harm than good. But just sitting there uselessly while somebody died – I'm supposed be doing _something_ , yeah? It felt wrong."

 _'Dammit, Ino, you know I'm not good at this.'_

"Then," she began, hardening her voice, "think it through. What do you need to do to make it so that you'll be of use next time?"

That seemed to bring some sort of life to the other girl's eyes. "Of use? I'm shadowing our Hokage and Shizune-san. I don't really know when I'll be able to help them."

"Directly? Maybe not. But you can be useful in other ways; think about all of the angles."

Ino was quiet for a moment. "So, you mean like providing support or observations?"

Sakura nodded in affirmation. "And paying attention to exactly why they do what they do, not just how."

"I'm still not sure what observations I could offer to them – Tsunade-sama has written about most of what we know about medical treatment."

"That's true, but you get to work with what's been written already – it's a little like you get a head start. Pay attention to the details while they pay attention to the bigger picture. It may take a lot of research. But you're a Yamanaka, right? You're used to getting inside to the heart of the problem, you'll be able to figure it out."

There was a hint of a smirk that played on Ino's face at Sakura's comment. The pinkette couldn't tell whether it was a sad smile or a more genuine one – either way, it was good to see that dead look gone from her friend's face. "Since when were you the one that comforted me?"

Sakura snorted. "Watch out, Pig, or next time you see me, I'll be leagues ahead of you."

Ino made a "pfft" and turned to leave as she shouted, "See you later, Forehead!"

* * *

 **AN: Well, this is technically still Sunday... Chapters like this one are why I said updates will come on weekends instead of a specific day - I decided yesterday that I wanted to rewrite this chapter, which is why it's here so late.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment, critique, or simply correct a typo (of which I am sure there are many, due to my laziness this time around).**


	8. Into the Shadows 1:8

Rain fell. It somehow managed to penetrate the forest canopy that was so thick that even the light struggled to find purchase and duck through the cracks of the leaves or slivers of space where limbs didn't completely overlap. Not that the light mattered – at the moment it was in the dead of the night and if the sun barely provided any light, the moon wouldn't lend any assistance at all.

The young kunoichi had traps set in case any predators in the area decided to make a meal of her, but she had no plans to be remaining in place for much longer. Sakishi was off scouting nearby in an attempt to gauge whether or not there were any opponents nearby. She'd considered summoning more snakes to help him, but that'd be like lighting a beacon for any sensor-nin that might be tracking her. As it stood, using a summon at all was a risky maneuver on her part, but she had to balance the scales somehow, so she may as well have an early warning system in place in addition to an ally to fight alongside.

She was a little surprised at how cooperative the snake was being, given his laziness, but she wasn't training with Anko right now so perhaps he recognized the gravity of the situation. If that were true, he hadn't volunteered the fact, but nonetheless, her summon had slunk off when Sakura told it she needed it to secure the area. The snake was taking a little longer than she anticipated though, and she had started to get nervous.

The field training was much more involved than the evaluations had been – for those all that Sakura had done was review varying scenarios and write up what her response would be – beyond that, all that was required of her was that she review an endless list of rules and regulations so that she could carry out her job effectively.

To be fair, the first half of the field certification hadn't been that bad. All that had consisted of was a run through a course, using the appropriate skills when specified. This, however, was much more difficult – and not just because she had been dumped into the Forest of Death. There were three squads in the Forest along with Sakura – two three person chūnin teams that had information on her and a two man jōnin team that had no particular orders other than incapacitate any team that stumbled onto them.

In the end, it was a bit like the Exams had been. Each individual unit in the Forest had a scroll on it – it was her job to obtain the scroll from each group in any way she could, whether it was through stealth and guile or by incapacitating her targets.

A soft rustle from above cued her to look up, and she saw a flash of Sakishi's patchy scales from in between the leaves. The summon's reluctance to descended and come down onto her branch was a sign that the snake had seen enemies, likely closing in to the vicinity. The pinkette did a quick check to make sure that her explosive tags were still in place and did the hand seals required to make a generic clone. Afterward, she retreated up the trunk of the tree, choosing another tree limb with better coverage.

 _'If I just leave it there, they're going to know it's a trap.'_

Sakura moved the clone so that it was in a more obscure location, taking care to make sure its body language portrayed someone alert for threats. Satisfied that her clone was in place, she wormed a chakra thread along her branch and then slipped it onto Sakishi's limb and let it lie on the summon. They had a tap system worked out for situations such as these when communication was limited – when the time came for action or inaction. It was fairly rudimentary, so she couldn't go for anything too complex: _retreat, attack_ , _defend,_ _hold_ , and _search_. That was the primary five tap system, though they'd improvised some other meanings when combining those four.

Once her thread she sent a signal – four taps follow by three taps. _Hold_ and _defend_ ; Sakishi would lie in wait, only moving from the position if she were attacked. The thought occurred to her that they need a sign for "ruse" or "trick." That'd definitely be something they'd have to work on together, though hopefully working together itself would become natural enough to eliminate the need for more nuanced signals.

Faint sounds and hints of movement caught her attention – deeper in the Forest, a few trees down, a figure landed onto a branch that was only yards away from one of the ones she had tagged. The figured disappeared, followed by an explosion, and Sakura realized that the other shinobi had triggered the explosive tag before she'd even had the opportunity to decide whether or not she wanted to use it.

 _'Observant,'_ thought the kunoichi warily. She hoped that it wasn't the jōnin unit that had stumbled upon her – they weren't actively looking for anyone, but it was still possible. She shifted the clone in response. _'I'll have to be careful with it. If that shinobi saw that tag so easily, it's possibly they'll be able to realize that it's just a clone. If I use the tags, I'll have to do so in a way that leaves the clone at the center of them – create the illusion that it's the one that wants to hem them in. I need to figure out where the other two are.'_

Her question was answered in part when another tag exploded off to the right of the first one. That whittled her remaining number down to three. A sinking feeling was beginning to form in the pit of Sakura's stomach. _'If this keeps going on, they'll overrun me without a fight.'_

Sakura decided to risk tipping her hand with clone – she needed to break their momentum and get an advantageous angle; it was time to go on the offensive. She made her clone jerk back in a sharp retreat – not flashy enough to be completely overt but not stealthy enough to go unnoticed.

A rather large third figure took the bait and rushed the clone with a sword in hand. Sakura fully committed to the offense and signaled Sakishi to attack. The snake struck at high speed, faster than she'd ever seen it move. Its widened mouth closed around a shoulder of the kenjutsu user, and fangs disappeared into his flesh. Before their opponent could react, Sakishi wound his body around the hapless combatant in tight coils, restricting all movement and cutting off a chance of counterattack. Hopefully, she been clear when she told her summon earlier that she was fighting fellow village members, and that the goal wasn't to kill them.

While her summon was taking care of the kenjutsu user, one of his comrades landed on the crowded limb with the clone. As soon as he was planted down onto the limb, he quickly made a few seals and then spat out a katon jutsu at the clone, which was between the katon user and Sakishi. As a wall of orange flames rapidly engulfed the air, Sakura forced her clone to retreat backward even as Sakishi pulled its prey up to where the rest of the snake's body rested. She managed to keep it away from the fire as it unfurled, threatening to break her cover.

 _'Where are you?'_ she wondered as she tried to search for her third enemy, mind splintering into a thousand different directions as it juggled strategy and kept up with all of the elements in play. Movement flashed behind the clone before coming to a halt and glowing orange. Another identical glow caught her eye on the limb above, where Sakishi was currently still holding the kenjutsu user.

Sakura made a split second decision to let the her clone be caught in the explosion, sacrificing her ruse to see where the kunai with the tags on them came from before they exploded, taking only a cursory effort to give a single tap to Sakishi with her chakra thread to let her summon know it was time to retreat.

The ominous, telltale orange burn of the tags before explosion lit up the kunai enough so that Sakura could see the direction from which they were thrown. Even as the two kunai tags exploded, Sakura triggered the tag she'd placed underneath the same limb and sent it and the katon user plummeting to the ground below.

Post-explosions, the young kunoichi saw that her summon had indeed received the order of retreat and had vanished, presumably with its prey further up the giant tree. Evidently the third shinobi had noticed the same thing and elected to pursue the snake. _'Did they miss the third explosion? Or is this shinobi just worried about Sakishi hurting their teammate?'_

She decided to pursue the last of her opponents – even if the shinobi proved to be a problem, she had Sakishi there to help her. Unfortunately, the visibility didn't make pursuit as she as she would've liked, and it was hard to keep an eye out for any possible trap while she focused on catching up with her opponent. She put the worry aside and reached for her shuriken. She attached a charka thread to three and threw them forward at the figure further up the trunk of the tree. The first of the three went wide and alerted the shinobi to her offensive.

Her opponent pivoted so that he was facing her but kept his momentum speeding up the tree while backpedaling. A quick block with a kunai deflected the other two of her shuriken, which she let go off course but steered them around behind the other shinobi. Moving quickly to prevent a counterattack, Sakura pulled on the threads and forced them to curve, bringing the shuriken back around. The threads found contact with the shinobi's legs and the momentum carried them around, the first one around his right and the last two around his right.

The young kunoichi yanked hard and her opponent found that backpedaling was no longer as simple as it had been. He tripped and with his lost footing, the hostile shinobi also fumbled with his chakra control; he slipped and subsequently fell, rapidly descending toward Sakura. She shifted, getting out of her enemy's path, but by the time she had, the shuriken had finished swinging around and found purchase in the other shinobi's leg – which then dissolved into smoke along with the rest of the body.

 _'Shit,'_ lamented the pinkette, eyes widening as a kunai flew toward her through the smoke. Whoever she was fighting had either just succeeded in pulling the trick she had sought to earlier or telegraphed her techniques in time to create the clone and evade her attack. A quick draw of her own kunai, and a swipe rendered her safe from the immediate danger of the kunai. _'If I can just get him to stay still for a second. Dammit, where is Sakishi?'_

She'd been played – drawn out of her own zone of attack so that the other team could gain an advantage. The kunoichi just hoped that she'd caught them off guard with either Sakishi or that last explosion and removed one of their team from play.

As if to answer her, a sudden flare of light and a rush of heat materialized behind her. The kunoichi didn't even need to look back to realizet aht the katon user had caught back up. She needed an exit strategy. Sakura threw three kunai with threads attached, aiming for a limb of an adjacent tree and pushed off the trunk of the tree she was on, leaping off into the gap.

As she expected, the katon user was right behind her, ready to intercept. A tug on her threads sent her swinging away from the attacker, just out of reach. It was hard to keep a mental map of where all of the players in action were since they were all keeping up their vertical ascent. _'The one I was chasing is probably still on the same tree. But if that katon user hasn't –'_

He'd already caught up – leaping from the tree with her kunai in it to the one she was on now. He was right behind her, but then she stopped the chakra flow that rooted her to the tree against the force of gravity and hit free-fall. The katon user was too shocked to do anything but move out of the way, which meant that she'd succeeded in creating an opportunity to attack.

As with the other shinobi, she threw out thread-bound shuriken to constrict around the katon user. Holding tight, she dragged her opponent off the tree along with her into fall. Her stomach knotted at feeling as nervous adrenaline continued to spike and flood her system.

 _'If I fall just a few feet over the wrong way…'_

Three more seconds into the fall, she dispelled the thread she had used to snare her enemy, making sure that she still had a firm hold on the threads that were still attached to her kunai embedded in limb of the other tree.

A second later she was jerked violently as her body was abruptly ripped out of free-fall. When Sakura was sure her arm wasn't going to be rent off, the pinkette reached out with her feet to the trunk to gain footing. A cursory glance to check the surrounding was enough to see that the katon user had evidently not been able to accomplish the same. All three kunai were still lodged in the limb of the tree. When she'd been running earlier, she'd done so in a way that she would fall so that the threads would wrap around the limb. That way instead of pulling straight down on the kunai and ripping them out, they held firm so she didn't end up like the katon user.

The kunoichi hurried to over to her blades and dislodged each one before cautiously continuing on her ascent. She noted that during the fight that rain had stopped falling, though there was steady drip-dropping from where the precipitation had clung onto the trees and was snatched down by gravity. She was little surprised that it'd been so easy to keep her footing and remain anchored to the tree, with all the slipperiness. It _had_ been a long time since she'd done any real shinobi work, and she hadn't been particularly experienced even back then.

Further up the tree, Sakura slowed when she saw a body draped over a limb of one of the nearby trees. In the dark, it was hard to make out, but the burly build seemed to match that of the kenjutsu user that Sakishi had snatched up.

She edged closer to see if there was anything she could gleam from the scene that would tell her whether or not her summon or the over enemy had been nearby. If Sakishi had just left the body there, there most likely scenario was that the last of the chūnin team had come across Sakishi and his teammate and rushed the snake. She was looking around the area for signs of disturbances when she whiffed the intrusive smell of smoke.

"That was a slick move," said a voice.

Sakura turned her head, looking around while she drew kunai. The limp ninja on the branch disappeared in smoke, and in its place stood the shinobi she had been chasing. _'Substitution justsu.'_

The shinobi propped up against the back of the tree, the smell of smoke still pervasive in her nostrils. He continued, "With those wires, I mean. I didn't even see them. Not to mention that snake – at first, I thought it was just a resident of the forest, but that was a summon, wasn't it? The tags, though? A little exposed, unless that's what you were going for."

Sakura took a step forward only to for her foot to go straight through the bark of the limb she was walking on. She jerked back and looked down at the curious sight. The bark she'd stepped on had crumbled away to a fire burning _inside_ of the limb.

The pinkette threw the kunai in her hand at the other shinobi, only for smoke to rise up in suck the blade out of the air.

"Won't do any good, I'm afraid," said the chūnin. "You see, I marked the area you're standing in in advance. That's the way my jutsu works – I mark an area, my enemy walks into it, and then they get themselves trapped and cooked alive. Of course, the limb burn all the way through and let you drop out of it, but if that happens, I'll be here waiting."

The visibility was still bad, and Sakura could see the fire burn with more and more vigor. Instead of rushing forward again, she tried leaping back only to find that escape wasn't possible that way either – smoke appeared and flung her back. When she landed, bark broke again, and the kunoichi had to react quickly in order to move out of the fire without being burnt, only finding secure footing again with pure luck. _'I need to test this for weaknesses.'_

She drew her remaining shuriken and attached threads to each one and slung them around. She controlled them in all directions – only to find that each time they strayed too far, the smoke would send them back in. Except – her threads kept going. And when she paid attention, she could feel the shuriken still attached.

 _'Genjutsu. Of course, he was lying about his technique.'_ With that, the kunoichi almost dispelled the genjutsu, but an idea struck her. Assuming her opponent was still standing across from her, and that his image wasn't an illusion, the chūnin was vulnerable to a genjutsu of her own. She'd have to be quick with the hand seals because he'd still probably be on guard, since her attacks could leave the imposed perimeter of the genjutsu. It'd be a little bit of a reach to try to enact a genjutsu while she was still under the effects of one, but this way she'd have a clearer target.

Sakura released the threads she'd attached to the shuriken and ran through the hand seals, staring straight at her opponent. When she finished, it felt as though the jutsu had taken hold, though she couldn't really be sure, given that her own senses were muddled. She'd tried to make it as subtle as possible – just enough for the chūnin to think she was still standing in place so she could move around and get the drop on him.

The kunoichi focused and dispelled her opponent's genjutsu. The smell of smoke disappeared altogether, and below her was simply the limb of a tree – no sign of fire anywhere. Meanwhile, the shinobi was still standing in place as if nothing had happened and continued to remain that way when she walked toward him. A sharp blow sent him flying toward the trunk of the tree, where his body slumped.

When she was finished pilfering through the ninja tools in the chūnin's possession, she used some of his wire to bind him and pocketed everything else she had taken. She had found the scroll on him as well– the kunoichi supposed they'd let him have it because he was the genjutsu user and therefore the least likely to engage up close.

The only thing left to resolve was the location of Sakishi, assuming the snake had dealt with the shinobi it ambushed. The pinkette wondered if the chūnin lying on the limb before had been the actual person or if it had just been a clone made to look like the figure in question. Of course, it was possible that the genjutsu user had dealt with Sakishi and forced the snake to dispel.

A rustle in the leaves above her. She looked up to find the snake on a limb above her. Its tail came down, with the chūnin wrapped up in tow. When it finished its descent to her limb, Sakishi's tail unfurled and let the chūnin down.

She looked back up to the snake. "Are you alright? Not hurt or anything?"

The snake didn't give any sign as to whether or not there was any injury, but it did come down onto the limb with her, between her and the chūnin that it had deposited. She walked up the snake and put her hand on it, inspecting its body for any sign of harm. When she was satisfied that her summon was okay, she removed her hand and backed up.

"Thanks for the back up," said the young kunoichi. She still wasn't exactly sure how to deal with the snake. Sakishi never really emoted and if the snake could speak the human language, there was never really any sign that it could. "Um, if you need to go back, you can, but I'm still not quite done here."

When the snake didn't disappear into smoke, she chose to take that as a sign that everything was good to go so she proceeded to strip the other shinobi her summon had brought her of anything useful and then tie him up as well. It occurred to her that she was leaving he two bound and defenseless against and creatures that happened to be in the area. Not to mention that katon user, who had fallen to the ground earlier.

 _'But can I really afford to make things easier for hostile shinobi?_ ' she wondered. _'They_ are _fellow Konoha nin, though.'_

She made a compromise of sorts. She left the two on the limb close enough together so that they could get to one another and get themselves free. The problem was the katon user, though. She could try to make it easier to the him to find his team, but that'd also draw the other two units in the area to her location, though with the explosions from earlier, it was quite possible that they were already on the way.

 _'I can't afford to waste anymore time on this,'_ thought the kunoichi. So instead, she carved a message on the bark for the other two to see that relayed the roundabout position of where their teammate fell. _'They'll be okay. Team 7 made it through this and none of us even made it to chūnin. They'll be fine.'_

"Let's go, Sakishi," she said to her summon as she began to speed away from the area. In all likelihood, the jōnin team wouldn't do anything, given their lack of orders to hunt her down, but the chūnin team would probably seek to capitalize on any opportunity they could to take her down. If she'd taken care of things a little faster, maybe she would've had time to try and set another ambush site, but the recent exchange had taught her that she evidently wasn't so good at setting those up even when she actually had ample time to do so.

She kept running through the trees for a long time, doing everything she could think of to make sure her trail wasn't noticeable. Sakishi was surprisingly quick to keep up, slithering from branch to branch. The snake wasn't always able to intersect as readily as she was, which meant her summon had a lot more vertical movement than she needed as it traversed the limbs. The pinkette hoped Sakishi wasn't having too hard of a time keeping track of her, but slowing down wasn't really an option if she wanted make sure no one was tailing her.

She wasn't really sure how she was going to proceed even when she did finally feel comfortable enough to stop. The Forest of Death was pretty large, so it wasn't going to be an easy task to locate her targets, and she wasn't exactly sure how practical it would be to rely on Sakishi for that, much less how taxing it would be on the summon. It was actually probably easier to get the chūnin team to come pursue her – after she got her bearings, she would be able to draw their attention to her location and then hopefully staged a more carefully thought out ambush.

That still wouldn't solve the problem of the jōnin unit, though. She had considered earlier that perhaps she would try and pit teams against one another to make her job easier, but the young kunoichi still wasn't sure how exactly she could accomplish that or if the chūnin team would even fight the jōnin unit – it wasn't really clear what their orders were beyond taking her down.

And then, of course, was the fact that she was working on a time limit. One or two days was the amount of time she had until the test was over. Calm Waters would commence in a week, and she needed to pass this field certification now. There wouldn't be another chance for her to be cleared for the mission if she failed here.

The past few weeks had been exhausting, but she felt like she had made more progress in them than before – she was finally able to move away from foundational work and on to learning actual techniques and practices. Working on chakra threads and genjutsu construction with Ocelot had gone increasingly well. Using the threads was very nearly second nature now. She wasn't as proficient as Ocelot, of course – not as dexterous and she couldn't lift a person and yank them around without using their own momentum or hers against them like the operative could. However, this particular run-in with the chūnin team had boosted her confidence greatly, and she was a little proud of how effective it had been.

Obviously her own genjutsu use was effective as well, given her ability to snare the chūnin one while she was still under a genjutsu herself. The trick with the thread to see through the genjutsu had also been useful as well, though the pinkette was a little disappointed that she hadn't been able to see through the illusion before that. It was tempting to blame the error on the environment, but she knew that sort of lazy thinking wasn't likely to get her anywhere – she needed to be able to cope in any situation she came across.

Her time with Anko had been on mixed success. She still wasn't entirely in sync when working with the summons. Particularly, she was having a hard time developing techniques to be used alongside the snakes to serve split-second maneuvers. She had, however, managed to execute a lesser version of Hidden Shadow Snake Hands – she wasn't able to properly pull it off with more than three snakes yet without there being some confusion amongst the summons. Anko had said some of the problem was lack of experience – she had to construct techniques that meshed with the mentality of the snakes she summoned and then act in a way that they could read her intent. Despite that, Sakura couldn't help but feel that somehow she was executing the seals incorrectly somehow, which was something the pinkette rarely ever did – perhaps they worked differently with summoning? She knew summoning worked differently than most ninjutsu, but Anko hadn't mentioned anything about that.

 _'Well, she_ is _prone to oversight, sometimes,'_ mused the young kunoichi. _'Doesn't matter. I can't keep getting distracted – I'm just going through all this to gather an inventory of my skills so I can set up the plan.'_

In the end, she still wasn't strong enough to take on a squad head on, not in the same way the rest of Team 7 could. Maybe after she gained a little more experience summoning, or when it was easier to enact a genjutsu in the heat of battle rather than needing to corner the target first. She wished that she had a way to use the toxins that she been dealing with – weaponize it. The chakra venom in particular would be useful, but that was something that would have to wait until she talked to Anko again, preferably before she left for Mizu.

Fortunately, the Forest was an ideal place to make use of her threads. She normally suppressed the chakra enough so that the threads weren't visible, but even if she made a slip, they still wouldn't be easy to catch. That, combined with her ability to control weapons with them made it ideal for sneak attacks. Together with the maneuver she used earlier to swing from the limb, that meant that she could attack from any angle and have an edge when it came to mobility. If she could figure out how to properly make use of that ability without pulling her arm out of its socket, it would be a valuable skill.

Ocelot was always talking about fighting unconventionally; she would probably look down on some of the more blazon displays made by Sakura's teammates. Her ANBU mentor had also always emphasized putting the opponent off balance. Now that Sakura thought about it, her earlier strategy with the clone and the tags was a little too straightforward – too expected. She should have already had the threads prepared in advance before she chased after the genjutsu user. Then again, she probably shouldn't have pursued in the first place – or at the very least, not as openly as she did. Instead, she should tried to head the shinobi off or made another clone. It would be a line of thinking she'd have to keep in mind for the next encounter.

Either way, the pinkette had made up her mind to go ahead and take out the chūnin team next, and then deal with the jōnin unit. She'd set up another ambush site, using some of the tags she'd found on the two she and Sakishi had subdued. After she properly surveyed the area and set up the zone, she would summon a few other snakes to scout out the forest and find the jōnin unit. It would be nice if she could play the two units against one another, but she didn't have enough information, much less the location of the other groups, and it was possible that putting the two of them together would cause her more harm than good.

When she sent the snakes away, she would get the chūnin team's attention, if the summoning of the snakes didn't attract the attention she wanted, minus Sakishi. He would be busy in the immediate area looking out for the team that would come after her. This time rather than just having a perimeter set up for defense, it would be a well thought out zone with a plan already in mind – a planned entry site to funnel the other team through, planned lanes to traverse, and areas where she could strike without revealing herself.

With a plan in mind, Sakura set out to make her preparations. This time, when a team came for her, she would be ready.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hey, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and finally seeing Sakura in action. The fight turned out to be a little smoother than I intended, but unfortunately for Sakura, I'll make up for that with the next chūnin and/or jōnin fight.**

 **Anyway, only two more planned chapters for this arc, and then we'll find ourselves in Mizu. As always, feel free to leave any comments, questions, or critiques (especially any typos I missed).**

 **TeenageCrisis: I'm glad you've enjoyed some of it so far. And yeah, I think I expressed in an earlier note that I was worried that the narration was a bit too dry because of all the theory. Even I'm a bit weary of it all at this point. In part, it's because I wanted to make the training a bit more cerebral and really wanted to set her up working out the mechanics, I guess? That, and with how I set up the training it was a little hard to integrate much action. Hopefully I've broken up that monotony a little with this chapter, and there will be a lot more going on after this introductory arc. Anyway, I really appreciate the constructive feedback!**

 **anatomize: You're absolutely right about the rule in question, but in that case, it was intentional because unless I missed something, the scene in Chapter 5 was a dialogue rather than a monologue. Sorry for the confusion - it was probably because I didn't put dialogue tags with every exchange. It's just that I've read a lot of books that rely on those end quotes and opening quotes to signal a change of speaker in order to not have to say "she said" or "he said" all the time. Anyway, thanks and I'm glad you've enjoyed some of the fic so far!**


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